The English System of Units

The English System of Units There are several systems of units, each containing units for properties such
as length, volume, weight, and time. In the English system the units are defined in an arbitrary way.
Length: inch (in), foot (ft), yard (yd), mile (mi) 12 in = 1 ft 5280 ft = 1 mi 3 ft = 1 yd 1760 yd = 1 mi Volume: fluid ounce (oz), cup (c), pint (pt), quart (qt), gallon (gal) 2 c = 1 pt 32 oz = 1 qt 2 pt = 1 qt 4 qt = 1 gal Weight: ounce (oz), pound (lb), ton 16 oz = 1 lb 2000 lb = 1 ton Time: second (s), minute (min), hour (h), day (d), year (y) 60 s = 1 min 24 h = 1 d 60 min = 1 h 3651/4 d = 1 y
Practice Problem 1
Convert 6.5 feet into inches. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 1 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 1
The Metric System The Metric System is based on the fundamental units of measure for length, volume, and mass.
Length: meter (m) Volume:liter (L) Mass : gram (g)

Base units in the Metric System can be converted into units that are more appropriate for the quantity being measured by adding a prefix to the name of the base unit. The common metric prefixes are given below. Metric System Prefixes
Prefix femtopiconanomicromillicentidecikilomegagiga-
Symbol f p n m c d k M G
Meaning x 1/1,000,000,000,000,000 (10-15) x 1/1,000,000,000,000 (10-12) x 1/1,000,000,000 (10-9) x 1/1,000,000 (10-6) x 1/1,000 (10-3) x 1/100 (10-2) x l/10(10-1) x 1,000 (103) x 1,000,000 (106) x 1,000,000,000 (109)
tera-
x 1,000,000,000,000 (1012)
The base units of length and volume are linked in the metric system. By definition, a liter is equal to the volume of a cube exactly 10 cm tall, 10 cm long, and 10 cm wide. Because the volume of this cube is 1000 cubic centimeters and a liter contains 1000 milliliters, 1 milliliter is equivalent to 1 cubic centimeter. 1 mL = 1cm3 The base units of volume and weight are also linked. The gram was originally defined as the mass of 1 mL of water at 4 degrees Celsius. 1g = 1mL H2O at 4 C
Practice Problem 2:
Convert 0.135 kilometers into meters. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 2
Mass Versus Weight Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object, so the mass of an object is constant. Weight is a measure of the force of attraction of the earth acting on an object. The weight of an object is not constant. Mass is a more fundamental quantity than weight. There is no English equivalent to the verb weighthat can be used to describe what happens when the mass of an object is measured. You are therefore likely to encounter the terms weigh and weight for operations and quantities that are more accurately associated with the term mass.
SI Units of Measure
In 1960 the International System of Units was proposed as a replacement for the Metric System. The seven base units for the SI system are given below. SI Base Units
Physical Quantity length mass time temperature
Name of Unit meter kilogram second kelvin
Symbol m kg s K
electric current amount of substance luminous intensity
ampere mole candela
D mol cd
Derived Si Units The units of every measurement in the SI system must be derived from one or more of the seven base units. Some of the common derived SI units used in chemistry are given below. Common Derived SI Units in Chemistry
Physical Quantity density electric charge electric potential energy force frequency pressure velocity (speed) volume
Name of Unit coulomb volt joule newton hertz pascal meters per second cubic meter
Symbol kg/m3 C (A s) V (J/C) J (kg-m2/s2) N (kg-m/s2) Hz (s-1) Pa (N/m2) m/s m3
Non-SI Units Strict adherence to SI units would require changing directions such as "add 250 mL of water to a 1-L beaker" to "add 0.00025 cubic meters of water to an 0.001-m3 container." Because of this, a number of units that are not strictly acceptable under the SI convention are still in use. Some of these non-SI units are given below. Non-SI Units in Common Use
Physical Quantity volume length pressure energy temperature concentration
Name of Unit liter angstrom atmosphere torr electron volt degree Celsius molarity
Symbol L (10-3 m3) D (0.1 nm) atm (101.325 kPa) mmHg (133.32 Pa) eV (1.601 x 10-19 J) EC (K - 273.15) M (mol/L)
Unit Conversions
Length 1 m = 1.094 yd Volume
1 yd = 0.9144
1 L = 1.057 qt Mass 1 g = 0.002205 lb
1 qt = 0.9464 1 lb = 453.6 g
Uncertainty Many unit factors are based on definitions. There are exactly 5280 feet in a mile and 2.54 centimeters in an inch, for example. Unit factors based on definitions are known with complete certainty. There is no error or uncertainty associated with these numbers. Measurements, however, are always accompanied by a finite amount of error or uncertainty, which reflects limitations in the techniques used to make them. There are two sources of error in a measurement: (1) limitations in the sensitivity of the instruments used and (2) imperfections in the techniques used to make the measurement. These errors can be divided into two classes: systematic and random.
Systematic Errors Systematic error can be caused by an imperfection in the equipment being used or from mistakes the individual makes while taking the measurement. A balance incorrectly calibrated would result in a systematic error. Consistently reading the buret wrong would result in a systematic error.
Random Errors Random errors most often result from limitations in the equipment or techniques used to make a measurement. Suppose, for example, that you wanted to collect 25 mL of a solution. You could use a beaker, a graduated cylinder, or a buret. Volume measurements made with a 50-mL beaker are accurate to within 5 mL. In other words, you would be as likely to obtain 20 mL of solution (5 mL too little) as 30 mL (5 mL too much). You could decrease the amount of error by using a graduated cylinder, which is capable of measurements to within 1 mL. The error could be decreased even further by using a buret, which is capable of delivering a volume to within 1 drop, or 0.05 mL. It is important to be honest when reporting a measurement, so that it does not appear to be more accurate than the equipment used to make the measurement allows. We can achieve this by controlling the number of digits, or significant figures, used to report the measurement.
Determining the Number of Significant Figures
The number of significant figures in a measurement, such as 2.531, is equal to the number of digits that are known with some degree of confidence (2, 5, and 3) plus the last digit (1), which is an estimate or approximation. As we improve the sensitivity of the equipment used to make a measurement, the number of significant figures increases.
Postage Scale Two-pan balance Analytical balance
31g
1 significant figure 3 significant 2.53 0.01 g figures 4 significant 2.531 0.001 g figures
Rules for counting significant figures are summarized below. Zeros within a number are always significant. Both 4308 and 40.05 contain four significant figures. Zeros that do nothing but set the decimal point are not significant. Thus, 470,000 has two significant figures. Trailing zeros that aren't needed to hold the decimal point are significant. For example, 4.00 has three significant figures. If you are not sure whether a digit is significant, assume that it isn't. For example, if the directions for an experiment read: "Add the sample to 400 mL of water," assume the volume of water is known to one significant figure.
Addition and Subtraction with Significant Figures When combining measurements with different degrees of accuracy and precision, the accuracy of the final answer can be no greater than the least accurate measurement. This principle can be translated into a simple rule for addition and subtraction: When measurements are added or subtracted, the answer can contain no more decimal places than the least accurate measurement.
150.0 g H2O + 0.507 g salt 150.5 g solution
(using significant figures)
Multiplication and Division With Significant Figures The same principle governs the use of significant figures in multiplication and division: the final result can be no more accurate than the least accurate measurement. In this case, however, we count the significant figures in each measurement, not the number of decimal places: When measurements are multiplied or divided, the answer can contain no more significant figures than the least accurate measurement.
Example: To illustrate this rule, let's calculate the cost of the copper in an old penny that is pure copper. Let's assume that the penny has a mass of 2.531 grams, that it is essentially pure copper, and that the price of copper is 67 cents per pound. We can start by from grams to pounds.
We then use the price of a pound of copper to calculate the cost of the copper metal.
There are four significant figures in both the mass of the penny (2.531) and the number of grams in a pound (453.6). But there are only two significant figures in the price of copper, so the final answer can only have two significant figure. Chemists often work with numbers that are extremely large or extremely small. For example, there are 10,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 carbon atoms in a 1-carat diamond each of which has a mass of 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,020 grams. It is impossible to multiply these numbers with most calculators because they can't accept either number as it is written here. To do a calculation like this, it is necessary to express these numbers in scientific notation, as a number between 1 and 10 multiplied by 10 raised to some exponent. Exponent Review Some of the basics of exponential mathematics are given below.
Any number raised to the zero power 1= 1 10= 1 is equal to 1. Any number raised to the first power 11 = 1 101 = 10 is equal to itself. Any number raised to the nth power is equal to the product of that number times itself n-1 times. 22 = 2 x 2 = 4 105 = 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 100,000 Dividing by a number raised to an exponent is the same as multiplying by that number raised to an exponent of the opposite sign.
Converting to Scientific Notation The following rule can be used to convert numbers into scientific notation: The exponent in scientific notation is equal to the number of times the decimal point must be moved to produce a number between 1 and 10. In 1990 the population of Chicago was 6,070,000 1000. To convert this number to scientific notation we move the decimal point to the left six times.
6,070,000 = 6.070 x 106

To translate 10,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 carbon atoms into scientific notation, we move the decimal point to the left 22 times. 10,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1.03 x 1022 To convert numbers smaller than 1 into scientific notation, we have to move the decimal point to the right. The decimal point in 0.000985, for example, must be moved to the right four times. 0.000985 = 9.85 x 10-4 Converting 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,020 grams per carbon atom into scientific notation involves moving the decimal point to the right 23 times. 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,020 = 2.0 x 10-23 The primary reason for converting numbers into scientific notation is to make calculations with unusually large or small numbers less cumbersome. Because zeros are no longer used to set the decimal point, all of the digits in a number in scientific notation are significant, as shown by the following examples.
2.4 x 1022 9.80 x 10-4 1.055 x 10-22
2 significant figures 3 significant figures 4 significant figures

Elements
Any substance that contains only one kind of an atom is known as an element. Because atoms cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, elements such as phosphorus (P4) or sulfur (S8) cannot be broken down into simpler substances by these reactions. Example: Water decomposes into a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen when an electric current is passed through the liquid. Hydrogen and oxygen, on the other hand, cannot be decomposed into simpler substances. They are therefore the elementary, or simplest, chemical substances - elements. Each element is represented by a unique symbol. The notation for each element can be found on the periodic table of elements. The elements can be divided into three categories that have characteristic properties: metals, nonmetals, and semimetals. Most elements are metals, which are found on the left and toward the bottom of the periodic table. A handful of nonmetals are clustered in the upper right corner of the periodic table. The semimetals can be found along the dividing line between the metals and the nonmetals.
Atoms
Elements are made up of atoms, the smallest particle that has any of the properties of the element.John Dalton, in 1803, proposed a modern theory of the atom based on the following assumptions. 1. Matter is made up of atoms that are indivisible and indestructible. 2. All atoms of an element are identical. 3. Atoms of different elements have different weights and different chemical properties. 4. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole numbers to form compounds. 5. Atoms cannot be created or destroyed. When a compound decomposes, the atoms are recovered unchanged.
Go To Atoms Vs. Ions
Compounds Elements combine to form chemical compounds that are often divided into two categories. Metals often react with nonmetals to form ionic compounds. These compounds are composed of positive and negative ions formed by adding or subtracting electrons from neutral atoms and molecules.
Nonmetals combine with each other to form covalent compounds, which exist as neutral molecules.
The shorthand notation for a compound describes the number of atoms of each element, which is indicated by a subscript written after the symbol for the element. By convention, no subscript is written when a molecule contains only one atom of an element. Thus, water is H2O and carbon dioxide is CO2.
Characteristics of Ionic and Covalent Compounds Ionic Compounds Contain positive and negative ions (Na+Cl-) Solids suchs as table salt (NaCl(s)) High melting and boiling points Strong force of attraction between particles Separate into charged particles in water to give a solution that conducts electricity Covalent Compounds Exist as neutral molecules (C6H12O2) Solids, liquids,or gases (C6H12O6(s), H2O(l), CO2(g)) Lower melting and boiling points (i.e., often exist as a liquid or gas at room temperature) Relatively weak force of attraction between molecules Remain as same molecule in water and will not conduct electricity
Determining if a Compound is Ionic or Covalent Calculate the difference between the electronegativities of two elements in a compound and the average of their electronegativites, and find the intersection of these values on the figure shown below to help determine if the compound is ionic or covalent, or metallic.
Practice Problem 1:
For each of the following compounds, predict whether you would expect it to be ionic or covalent. (a) chromium(III) oxide, Cr2O3 (b) carbon tetrachloride, CCl4 (c) methanol, CH3OH (d) strontium fluoride, SrF2 Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 1
Practice Problem 2:
Use the following data to propose a way of distinguishing between ionic and covalent compounds.
Compound Melting Point ( oC) Boiling Point ( oC) Cr2O3 SrF2 CCl4 CH3OH 2266 1470 -22.9 -97.8 4000 2489 76.6 64.7
Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2
Practice Problem 3:
Which of the following compounds should conduct an electric current when dissolved in water? (a) methanol, CH3OH (b) strontium fluoride, SrF2 Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 3
Formulas A molecule is the smallest particle that has any of the properties of a compound. The formula for a molecule must be neutral. When writing the formula for an ionic compound, the charges on the ions must balance, the number of postive charges must equal the number of negative charges. Examples:
CaCl2 Al2(SO4)3
Balanced formula has 2 positive charges (1 calcium ion with +2 charge) and 2 negative charges (2 chloride ions with a -1 charge) Balanced formula has 6 positive charges (2 aluminum ions with a +3 charge) and 6 negative charges (3 sulfate ions with 2 charge)
Mixtures Vs. Compounds The law of constant composition states that the ratio by mass of the elements in a chemical compound is always the same, regardless of the source of the compound. The law of constant composition can be used to distinguish between compounds and mixtures of elements: Compounds have a constant composition; mixtures do not. Water is always 88.8% O and 11.2% H by weight regardless of its source. Brass is an example of a mixture of two elements: copper and zinc. It can contain as little as 10%, or as much as 45%, zinc. Another difference between compounds and mixtures of elements is the ease with which the elements can be separated. Mixtures, such as the atmosphere, contain two or more substances that are relatively easy to separate. The individual components of a mixture can be physically separated from each other. Chemical compounds are very different from mixtures: The elements in a chemical compound can only be separated by destroying the compound. Some of the differences between chemical compounds and mixtures of elements are illustrated by the following example using raisin bran and "Crispix.". Raisin bran has the following characteristic properties of a mixture.
The cereal does not have a constant composition; the ratio of raisins to bran flakes changes from sample to sample. It is easy to physically separate the two "elements," to pick out the raisins, for example, and eat them separately.
Crispix has some of the characteristic properties of a compound.
The ratio of rice flakes to corn flakes is constant; it is 1:1 in every sample. There is no way to separate the "elements" without breaking the bonds that hold them together.
Elements
Any substance that contains only one kind of an atom is known as an element. Because atoms cannot be created or destroyed in a chemical reaction, elements such as phosphorus (P4) or sulfur (S8) cannot be broken down into simpler substances by these reactions. Example: Water decomposes into a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen when an electric current is passed through the liquid. Hydrogen and oxygen, on the other hand, cannot be decomposed into simpler substances. They are therefore the elementary, or simplest, chemical substances - elements. Each element is represented by a unique symbol. The notation for each element can be found on the periodic table of elements. The elements can be divided into three categories that have characteristic properties: metals, nonmetals, and semimetals. Most elements are metals, which are found on the left and toward the bottom of the periodic table. A handful of nonmetals are clustered in the upper right corner of the periodic table. The semimetals can be found along the dividing line between the metals and the nonmetals.
Atoms Elements are made up of atoms, the smallest particle that has any of the properties of the element.John Dalton, in 1803, proposed a modern theory of the atom based on the following assumptions. 1. Matter is made up of atoms that are indivisible and indestructible. 2. All atoms of an element are identical. 3. Atoms of different elements have different weights and different chemical properties. 4. Atoms of different elements combine in simple whole numbers to form compounds. 5. Atoms cannot be created or destroyed. When a compound decomposes, the atoms are recovered unchanged.
Go To Atoms Vs. Ions
Compounds
Elements combine to form chemical compounds that are often divided into two categories. Metals often react with nonmetals to form ionic compounds. These compounds are composed of positive and negative ions formed by adding or subtracting electrons from neutral atoms and molecules.
Nonmetals combine with each other to form covalent compounds, which exist as neutral molecules.
The shorthand notation for a compound describes the number of atoms of each element, which is indicated by a subscript written after the symbol for the element. By convention, no subscript is written when a molecule contains only one atom of an element. Thus, water is H2O and carbon dioxide is CO2.
Characteristics of Ionic and Covalent Compounds Ionic Compounds Contain positive and negative ions (Na+Cl-) Solids suchs as table salt (NaCl(s)) High melting and boiling points Strong force of attraction between particles Separate into charged particles in water to give a solution that conducts electricity Covalent Compounds Exist as neutral molecules (C6H12O2) Solids, liquids,or gases (C6H12O6(s), H2O(l), CO2(g)) Lower melting and boiling points (i.e., often exist as a liquid or gas at room temperature) Relatively weak force of attraction between molecules Remain as same molecule in water and will not conduct electricity
Determining if a Compound is Ionic or Covalent Calculate the difference between the electronegativities of two elements in a compound and the average of their electronegativites, and find the intersection of these values on the figure shown below to help determine if the compound is ionic or covalent, or metallic.
Practice Problem 1:
For each of the following compounds, predict whether you would expect it to be ionic or covalent. (a) chromium(III) oxide, Cr2O3 (b) carbon tetrachloride, CCl4 (c) methanol, CH3OH (d) strontium fluoride, SrF2 Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 1
Practice Problem 2:
Use the following data to propose a way of distinguishing between ionic and covalent compounds.
Compound Melting Point ( oC) Boiling Point ( oC) Cr2O3 SrF2 CCl4 CH3OH 2266 1470 -22.9 -97.8 4000 2489 76.6 64.7
Practice Problem 3:
Which of the following compounds should conduct an electric current when dissolved in water? (a) methanol, CH3OH (b) strontium fluoride, SrF2 Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 3
Formulas A molecule is the smallest particle that has any of the properties of a compound. The formula for a molecule must be neutral. When writing the formula for an ionic compound, the charges on the ions must balance, the number of postive charges must equal the number of negative charges. Examples:
CaCl2 Al2(SO4)3
Balanced formula has 2 positive charges (1 calcium ion with +2 charge) and 2 negative charges (2 chloride ions with a -1 charge) Balanced formula has 6 positive charges (2 aluminum ions with a +3 charge) and 6 negative charges (3 sulfate ions with 2 charge)
Mixtures Vs. Compounds The law of constant composition states that the ratio by mass of the elements in a chemical compound is always the same, regardless of the source of the compound. The law of constant composition can be used to distinguish between compounds and mixtures of elements: Compounds have a constant composition; mixtures do not. Water is always 88.8% O and 11.2% H by weight regardless of its source. Brass is an example of a mixture of two elements: copper and zinc. It can contain as little as 10%, or as much as 45%, zinc. Another difference between compounds and mixtures of elements is the ease with which the elements can be separated. Mixtures, such as the atmosphere, contain two or more substances that are relatively easy to separate. The individual components of a mixture can be physically separated from each other. Chemical compounds are very different from mixtures: The elements in a chemical compound can only be separated by destroying the compound. Some of the differences between chemical compounds and mixtures of elements are illustrated by the following example using raisin bran and "Crispix.". Raisin bran has the following characteristic properties of a mixture.
The cereal does not have a constant composition; the ratio of raisins to bran flakes changes from sample to sample. It is easy to physically separate the two "elements," to pick out the raisins, for example, and eat them separately.
Crispix has some of the characteristic properties of a compound.
The ratio of rice flakes to corn flakes is constant; it is 1:1 in every sample.
There is no way to separate the "elements" without breaking the bonds that hold them together.
Atoms are neutral; they contain the same number of protons as electrons. By definition, an ion is an electrically charged particle produced by either removing electrons from a neutral atom to give a positive ion or adding electrons to a neutral atom to give a negative ion. When an ion is formed, the number of protons does not change. Neutral atoms can be turned into positively charged ions by removing one or more electrons. A neutral sodium atom, for example, contains 11 protons and 11 electrons. By removing an electron from this atom we get a positively charged Na+ ion that has a net charge of +1. Atoms that gain extra electrons become negatively charged. A neutral chlorine atom, for example, contains 17 protons and 17 electrons. By adding one more electron we get a negatively charged Cl-ion with a net charge of -1. The gain or loss of electrons by an atom to form negative or positive ions has an enormous impact on the chemical and physical properties of the atom. Sodium metal, for example, which consists of neutral sodium atoms, bursts into flame when it comes in contact with water. Neutral chlorine atoms instantly combine to form Cl2 molecules, which are so reactive that entire communities are evacuated when trains carrying chlorine gas derail. Positively charged Na+ and negatively charged Cl- ions are so unreactive that we can safely take them into our bodies whenever we salt our food. Long before chemists knew the formulas for chemical compounds, they developed a system ofnomenclature that gave each compound a unique name. Today we often use chemical formulas, such as NaCl, C12H22O11, and Co(NH3)6(ClO4)3, to describe chemical compounds. But we still need unique names that unambiguously identify each compound.
Common Names Some compounds have been known for so long that a systematic nomenclature cannot compete with well-established common names. Examples of compounds for which common names are used include water (H2O), ammonia (NH3), and methane (CH4).
Naming Ionic Compounds (Metals with Non-metals) The names of ionic compounds are written by listing the name of the positive ion followed by the name of the negative ion.
NaCl sodium chloride (NH4)2SO4 ammonium sulfate NaHCO3 sodium bicarbonate
We therefore need a series of rules that allow us to unambiguously name positive and negative ions before we can name the salts these ions form.
Naming Positive Ions Monatomic positive ions have the name of the element from which they are formed.
Na+ Ca2+ K+
sodium calcium potassium
Zn2+ H+ Sr2+
zinc hydrogen strontium
Some metals form positive ions in more than one oxidation state. One of the earliest methods of distinguishing between these ions used the suffixes -ous and -ic added to the Latin name of the element to represent the lower and higher oxidation states, respectively.
Fe2+ Sn2+ Cu+
ferrous stannous cuprous
Fe3+ Sn4+ Cu2+
ferric stannic cupric
Chemists now use a simpler method, in which the charge on the ion is indicated by a Roman numeral in parentheses immediately after the name of the element.
Fe2+ Sn2+ Cu+
iron(II) tin(II) copper(I)
Fe3+ Sn4+ Cu2+
iron (III) tin(IV) copper(II)
Polyatomic positive ions often have common names ending with the suffix -onium.
H3O+ NH4+
hydronium ammonium
Naming Negative Ions Negative ions that consist of a single atom are named by adding the suffix -ide to the stem of the name of the element.
FClBrIH-
fluoride chloride bromide iodide hydride
O2S2N3P3C4-
oxide sulfide nitride phosphide carbide
Practice Problem 4
Predict the formula of the compound that forms when magnesium metal reacts with nitrogen to form magnesium
nitride. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 4
Common Polyatomic Negative Ions
-1 ions HCO3
-
bicarbonate acetate nitrate nitrite permanganate cyanide -2 ions carbonate sulfate sulfite thiosulfate -3 ions phosphate borate
HSO4ClO4ClO3ClO2ClOOHO22CrO42Cr2O72HPO42AsO43-
CH3CO2NO3NO2MnO4CNCO3 SO42SO32S2O32PO43BO332-
hydrogen sulfate (bisulfate) perchlorate chlorate chlorite hypochlorite hydroxide peroxide chromate dichromate hydrogen phosphate arsenate
Naming Polyatomic Ions At first glance, the nomenclature of the polyatomic negative ions in the table above seems hopeless. There are several general rules, however, that can bring some order out of this apparent chaos. The name of the ion usually ends in either -ite or -ate. The -ite ending indicates a low oxidation state. Thus,the NO2- ion is the nitrite ion. The -ate ending indicates a high oxidation state. The NO3- ion, for example, is the nitrate ion. The prefix hypo- is used to indicate the very lowest oxidation state. The ClO- ion, for example, is the hypochlorite ion. The prefix per- (as in hyper-) is used to indicate the very highest oxidation state. The ClO4ion is therefore the perchlorate ion. There are only a handful of exceptions to these generalizations. The names of the hydroxide (OH-), cyanide (CN-), and peroxide (O22-) ions, for example, have the -ide ending because they were once thought to be monatomic ions.
Practice Problem 5
The bone and tooth enamel in your body contain ionic compounds such as calcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite. Predict the formula of calcium phosphate, which contains Ca2+ and PO43-ions. Calculate the value of x, if the formula of hydroxyapatite is Cax(PO4)3(OH). Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 5
Naming Simple Covalent Compounds ( Non-metals with non-metals ) Oxidation states also play an important role in naming simple covalent compounds. The name of the atom in the positive oxidation state is listed first. The suffix -ide is then added to the stem of the name of the atom in the negative oxidation state.
HCl NO BrCl
hydrogen chloride nitrogen oxide bromine chloride
As a rule, chemists write formulas in which the element in the positive oxidation state is written first, followed by the element(s) with negative oxidation numbers. The number of atoms of an element in simple covalent compounds is indicated by adding one of the following Greek prefixes to the name of the element.
1 mono2 di3 tri4 tetra5 penta-
6 hexa7 hepta8 octa9 nona10 deca-
The prefix mono- is seldom used because it is redundant. The principal exception to this rule is carbon monoxide (CO).
Naming Acids Simple covalent compounds that contain hydrogen, such as HCl, HBr, and HCN, often dissolve in water to produce acids. These solutions are named by adding the prefix hydro- to the name of the compound and then replacing the suffix -ide with -ic. For example, hydrogen chloride (HCl) dissolves in water to form hydrochloric acid; hydrogen bromide (HBr) forms hydrobromic acid; and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) forms hydrocyanic acid. Many of the oxygen-rich polyatomic negative ions in Table 2.1 form acids that are named by replacing the suffix -ate with -ic and the suffix -ite with -ous.
Cl
Acids containing ions ending with ide often become chloride HCl
hydro -ic acid hydrochloric
FS2-
fluoride sulfide
HF H2S
Acids containing ions ending with ate usually become CH3CO2acetate CH3CO2H CO32carbonate H2CO3 3BO3 borate H3BO3 NO3nitrate HNO3 2SO4 sulfate H2SO4 ClO4perchlorate HClO4 PO43MnO4phosphate permanganate H3PO4 HMnO4
CrO42chromate H2CrO4 ClO3 chlorate HClO3 Acids containing ions ending with ite usually become ClO2chlorite HClO2 NO2nitrite HNO2 2SO3 sulfite H2SO 3 ClOhypochlorite HClO
acid hydrofluoric acid hydrosulfuric acid -ic acid acetic acid carbonic acid boric acid nitric acid sulfuric acid perchloric acid phosphoric acid permanganic acid chromic acid chloric acid -ous acid chlorous acid nitrous acid sulfurous acid hypochlorous acid
Complex acids can be named by indicating the presence of an acidic hydrogen as follows.
NaHCO3 NaHSO3 KH2PO4
sodium hydrogen carbonate (also known as sodium bicarbonate) sodium hydrogen sulfite (also known as sodium bisulfite) potassium dihydrogen phosphate
It is often useful to follow chemical reactions by looking at changes in the oxidation numbers of the atoms in each compound during the reaction. Oxidation numbers also play an important role in the systematic nomenclature of chemical compounds. By definition, the oxidation number of an atom is the charge that atom would have if the compound was composed of ions. 1. The oxidation number of an atom is zero in a neutral substance that contains atoms of only one element. Thus, the atoms in O2, O3, P4, S8, and aluminum metal all have an oxidation number of 0. 2. The oxidation number of simple ions is equal to the charge on the ion. The oxidation number of sodium in the Na+ ion is +1, for example, and the oxidation number of chlorine in the Cl- ion is -1. 3. The oxidation number of hydrogen is +1 when it is combined with a nonmetal as in CH4, NH3, H2O, and HCl. 4. The oxidation number of hydrogen is -1 when it is combined with a metal as in. LiH, NaH, CaH2, and LiAlH4. 5. The metals in Group IA form compounds (such as Li3N and Na2S) in which the metal atom has an oxidation number of +1. 6. The elements in Group IIA form compounds (such as Mg3N2 and CaCO3) in which the metal atom has a +2 oxidation number.
7. Oxygen usually has an oxidation number of -2. Exceptions include molecules and polyatomic ions that contain O-O bonds, such as O2, O3, H2O2, and the O22- ion. 8. The elements in Group VIIA often form compounds (such as AlF3, HCl, and ZnBr2) in which the nonmetal has a -1 oxidation number. 9. The sum of the oxidation numbers in a neutral compound is zero. H2O: 2(+1) + (-2) = 0 10. The sum of the oxidation numbers in a polyatomic ion is equal to the charge on the ion. The oxidation number of the sulfur atom in the SO42- ion must be +6, for example, because the sum of the oxidation numbers of the atoms in this ion must equal -2. SO42-: (+6) + 4(-2) = -2 11. Elements toward the bottom left corner of the periodic table are more likely to have positive oxidation numbers than those toward the upper right corner of the table. Sulfur has a positive oxidation number in SO2, for example, because it is below oxygen in the periodic table. SO2: (+4) + 2(-2) = 0 Atomic Mass The units in which the mass of an atom are expressed are atomic mass units. At one time, the lightest atom was assigned a mass of 1 amu and the mass of any other atom was expressed in terms of this standard. Today atomic mass units are defined in terms of the isotope, which is assigned a mass of exactly 12.000... amu.
12
Isotopes Isotopes are atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons, such as the
20
Ne and22Ne isotopes of neon or the
35
Cl and
37
Cl isotopes of chlorine.
Atomic Weight The atomic weight of an element is the weighted average of the atomic masses of the different isotopes of an element. Naturally occurring carbon, for example, is a mixture of two isotopes,
12
C (98.89%) and
13
C (1.11 %). Individual carbon atoms therefore have a mass of
either 12.000 or 13.03354 amu. But the average mass of the different isotopes of carbon is 12.011 amu.
Molecular Weight The molecular weight of a compound is the sum of the atomic weights of the atoms in the molecules that form these compounds. Example: The molecular weight of the sugar molecule found in cane sugar is the sum of the atomic weights of the 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, and 11 oxygen atoms in a C12H22O11molecule.
12 C atoms = 12(12.011) amu = 144.132 amu 22 H atoms = 22(1.0079) amu = 22.174 amu 11 O atoms = 11(15.9994) amu =175.993 amu 342.299 amu
C12H22O11 has a molecular weight of 342.299 amu. A mole of C12H22O11 would have a mass of 342.299 grams.This quantity is known as the molar mass, a term that is often used in place of the terms atomic weight or molecular weight.
The Mole The term mole literally means a small mass. It is used as the bridge between chemistry on the atomic and macroscopic scale. If the mass of a single
12
C atom is 12.000 amu, then one
mole of these atoms would have a mass of 12.000 grams. By definition, aa mole of any substance contains the same number of elementary particles as there are atoms in exactly 12 grams of the Example: A single mass of 12 grams. A mole of any atoms has a mass in grams equal to the atomic weight of the element. The term mole can be applied to any particle: atoms, a mole of atoms, a mole of ions, a mole of electrons, or a mole of molecules. Each time we use the term, we refer to a number of particles equal to the number of atoms in exactly 12 grams of the
12 12 12
C isotope of carbon.
C atom has a mass of 12 amu, and a mole of these atoms would have a
C isotope of carbon.
Practice Problem 1:
Predict the mass of a mole of magnesium atoms. Click here to check your anwswer to Practice Problem 1
Practice Problem 2:
Calculate the molecular weights of carbon dioxide (CO2) and sugar (C12H22O11) and the mass of a mole of each compound.
Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 2
Avogadro's Constant Avogadro's number (or Avogadro's constant) is the number of elementary particles in a mole of any substance For most calculations, four significant figures for Avogadro's constant are enough: 6.022 x 1023. A mole of any substance contains Avogadro's number of elementary particles. It doesn't matter whether we talk about a mole of atoms, a mole of molecules, a mole of electrons, or a mole of ions. By definition, a mole always contains 6.022 x 1023 elementary particles.
Practice Problem 3:
Describe the difference between the mass of a mole of oxygen atoms and a mole of O 2molecules. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 3
Practice Problem 4:
Calculate the mass in grams of a single 12C atom. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 4 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 4
Converting Grams into Moles The mole is a powerful tool, which enables chemists armed with nothing more than a table of atomic weights and a balance to determine the number of atoms, ions or molecules in a sample. Example: Let's calculate the number of C12H22O11 molecules in a pound of cane sugar. We need two pieces of information to do this calculation. We need to know the number of grams in a pound and the molecular weight or molar mass of this sugar. A pound of sugar has a mass of 453.6 grams and one mole of this sugar has a mass of 342.3 grams. A pair of unit factors can be constructed from the molecular weight or molar mass.
By paying attention to the units during the calculation, it is easy to choose the correct unit factor to convert grams of sugar into moles of sugar.
We then use Avogadro's number to determine the number of C12H22O11 molecules in our sample.
Because atoms are neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction, the total mass of products in a reaction must be the same as the total mass of the reactants.
Chemical Equations Chemical reactions are described by chemical equations. Example: The reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to form water is represented by the following equation. 2 H2 + O2 2 H2O
It is often useful to indicate whether the reactants or products are solids, liquids, or gases by writing an s, l, or g in parentheses after the symbol for the reactants or products, as shown in the following equations. 2 H2(g) + O2(g) 2 Al(s) + Fe2O3(s) 2 H2O(g) Al2O3(s) + 2 Fe(l)
Because so many reactions occur when solutions of two substances dissolved in water are mixed, a special symbol, aq, is used to describe these aqueous solutions. The process in which a sample dissolves in water will be indicated by equations such as the following.
H2O C12H22O11(s) C12H22O11(aq)

A chemical equation is a statement of what can happen, not necessarily what will happen. The following equation, for example, does not guarantee that hydrogen will react with oxygen to form water. 2 H2(g) + O2(g) 2 H2O(g)
It is possible to fill a balloon with a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen and find that no reaction occurs until you touch the balloon with a flame. The balanced equation for this reaction describes the relationship between the amounts of hydrogen and oxygen consumed and the water formed if or when this reaction is initiated.
Equations at the Atomic and Macroscopic Scale Chemical equations can be used to represent what happens on either the atomic or macroscopic scale. 2 H2(g) + O2(g) 2 H2O(g)
This equation can be read in either of the following ways.
If, or when, hydrogen reacts with oxygen, two molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen are consumed for every two molecules of water produced. If, or when, hydrogen reacts with oxygen, two moles of hydrogen and one mole of oxygen are consumed for every two moles of water produced.
Chemical equations must be balanced -- they must have the same number of atoms of each element on both sides of the equation. As a result, the mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of the products of the reaction. On the atomic scale, the following equation is balanced because the total mass of the reactants is equal to the mass of the products.
2 H2(g) 2 x 2 amu
+ + 36 amu
O2(g) 32 amu
2 H2O(g) 2 x 18 amu 36 amu
On the macroscopic scale, it is balanced because the mass of two moles of hydrogen and one mole of oxygen is equal to the mass of two moles of water.
2 H2(g) + O2(g) 2 x 2 g + 32 g 36 g
2 H2O(g) 2 x 18 g 36 g
Balancing Chemical Equations There is no sequence of rules that can be followed blindly to get a balanced chemical equation. Manipulate the coefficients written in front of the formulas of the reactants and products until the number of atoms of each element on both sides of the equation are the same.
It is usually a good idea to tackle the easiest part of a problem first. Example: Consider what happens when propane (C3H8) burns in air to form CO2 and H2O. The first thing to look for when balancing equations are relationships between the two sides of an equation. _____ C3H8 + _____ O2 _____ CO2 + _____ H2O
It is easier to balance the carbon and hydrogen atoms in the equation than the oxygen atoms in this reaction because all of the carbon atoms in propane end up in CO2 and all of the hydrogen atoms end up in H2O, but some of the oxygen atoms end up in each compound. This means that there is no way to predict the number of O2 molecules that are consumed in this reaction until you know how many CO2 and H2O molecules are produced. We can start by noting that there are three carbon atoms in each C3H8 molecule. Thus, three CO2molecules are formed for every C3H8 molecule consumed. 1 C3H8 + _____ O2 3 CO2 + _____ H2O
If there are eight hydrogen atoms in each C3H8 molecule, there must be eight hydrogen atoms, or four H2O molecules, on the right side of the equation. 1 C3H8 + _____ O2 3 CO2 + 4 H2O
Now that the carbon and hydrogen atoms are balanced, we can try to balance the oxygen atoms. There are six oxygen atoms in three CO2 molecules and four oxygen atoms in four H2O molecules. To balance the 10 oxygen atoms in the products of this reaction we need five O2 molecules among the reactants. 1 C3H8 + 5 O2 3 CO2 + 4 H2O
There are now three carbon atoms, eight hydrogen atoms, and 10 oxygen atoms on each side of the equation. The balanced equation for this reaction is therefore written as follows. C3H8(g) + 5 O2(g) 3 CO2(g) + 4 H2O(g)
Mole Ratios A balanced chemical equation allows us to predict what happens when the reaction takes place. Amole ratio converts moles of one compound in a balanced chemical equation into moles of another compound. Example: The fireworks that brighten the sky each Fourth of July are based on the reaction between magnesium and oxygen to form magnesium oxide. 2 Mg(s) + O2(g) 2 MgO(s)
The balanced equation for this reaction can be used to construct two unit factors that describe the relationship between the amount of magnesium and oxygen consumed in this reaction.
By focusing on the units of this problem, we can select the correct mole ratio to convert moles of magnesium into an equivalent number of moles of oxygen. Assume, for example, that we want to calculate the number of moles of oxygen needed to burn 0.40 moles of magnesium metal.
0.40 mol Mg x 1 mol O2 = 0.20 mol O2 2 mol Mg
Practice Problem 7:
A can of butane lighter fluid contains 1.20 moles of butane (C 4H10). Calculate the number of moles of carbon dioxide given off when this butane is burned. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 7 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 7
Predicting the Mass of Reactants Consumed or Products Given Off in a Chemical Reaction Balanced chemical equations can be used to predict the relationship between the amounts of the reactants consumed and the amounts of the products formed in a chemical reaction. Example: To predict the amount of oxygen that must be inhaled to digest 10.0 grams of sugar we can assume that the sugar in our diet comes to us as C12H22O11 molecules and that our bodies burn this sugar according to the following equation. C12H22O11(s) + 12 O2(g) 12 CO2(g) + 11 H2O(l)
Perhaps the best way to start is to ask: "What are we trying to find?" and then summarize the important pieces of information in the problem. Goal: Find out how many grams of O2 are consumed when 10.0 grams of sugar are burned. Fact: We start with 10.0 grams of sugar. Fact: Sugar has the formula C12H22O11. Fact: The balanced equation for this reaction can be written as follows. C12H22O11 + 12 O2 12 CO2 + 11 H2O
Because we know the molecular weight of sugar, we can convert the known mass of the sugar into the number of moles of sugar.
We now have a balanced chemical equation, and we know the number of moles of sugar in the sample. As a step toward the goal of the problem we might calculate the number of moles of oxygenconsumed in the reaction. The equation for this reaction suggests that 12 moles of O2 are consumed for every mole of sugar in this reaction. We can therefore calculate the number of moles of oxygen needed to burn 0.02921 moles of sugar as follows.
We now have the necessary information to get to the goal of our calculation. We know the amount of O2 consumed in this reaction in units of moles and we can calculate the mass of 0.3505 moles of O2 from the molecular weight of oxygen.
According to this calculation, it takes 11.2 grams of O2 to burn 10.0 grams of sugar.
Practice Problem 8:
Calculate the amount of ammonia and oxygen needed to prepare 3.00 grams of nitrogen oxide by the following reaction. 4 NH3(g) + 5 O2(g) Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 8 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 8 4 NO(g) + 6 H2O(g)
Limiting Reagents It takes 1.70 grams of ammonia and 4.00 grams of oxygen to make 3.00 grams of nitrogen oxide by the following reaction. 4 NH3(g) + 5 O2(g) 4 NO(g) + 6 H2O(g)
What would happen to the amount of NO produced in this reaction if we kept the amount of O2 the same (4.00 g) but increases the amount of NH3 that was present initially? The yield of the reaction would stay the same. No matter how much NH3 we add to the system, no more NO is produced because the reaction runs out of O2 before all of the NH3 is consumed. When this happens, the reaction must stop. No matter how much NH3 is added to the system, we can't get more than 3.00 grams of NO from 4.00 grams of oxygen. When there isn't enough O2 to consume all the NH3 in the reaction, the amount of O2 limits the amount of NO that can be produced. Oxygen is therefore the limiting reagent in this reaction. Because there is more NH3 than we need, it is the excess reagent. The concept of limiting reagent is important because chemists frequently run reactions in which only a limited amount of one of the reactants is present.
The key to limiting reagent problems is the following sequence of steps.
Recognize that you have a limiting reagent problem or at least consider the possibility that there might be a limiting amount of one of the reactants. Assume that one of the reactants is the limiting reagent. See if you have enough of the other reactant to consume the material you have assumed to be the limiting reactant. If you do, your original assumption was correct. If you don't, assume that another reagent is the limiting reagent and test this assumption. Once you have identified the limiting reagent, calculate the amount of product formed.
Solute, Solvent, and Solution It is important to distinguish between three closely related terms solute, solvent, and solution.
Solute The substance that dissolves to form a solution Solvent The substance in which a solute dissolves Solution A mixture of one or more solutes dissolved in a solvent
The following rules can be used to decide which component of a solution is the solute and which is the solvent.
There are three states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. Any reagent that undergoes a change in state when it forms a solution is the solute. If neither reagent changes state, the reagent present in the smallest amount is the solute.
The table below gives examples of different kinds of solutions. We normally think of solutions as the result of dissolving a solid such as NaCl in a solvent such as water. (NaCl is the solute in this solutions because it changes state when it dissolves.) It is also possible to dissolve gases such as HCl in a liquid to form a solution such as hydrochloric acid. It is even possible to dissolve gases in solids, such as H2 in platinum metal. Or liquids in solids, such as mercury in sodium to form an alloy or amalgam of the two metals. Wine that is 12% alcohol by volume is a solution of a small quantity of alcohol (the solute) in a larger volume of water (the solvent).
Practice Problem 10:

Use the density of mercury (13.60 g/cm3) to calculate the number of atoms in a liter of this liquid. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 10
Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 10
Examples of Solutions
Solute NaCl(s) H2(g) Hg(l) alcohol
Solvent H2O(l) Pt(s) Na(s) water
Solution NaClaq) H2/Pt(s) Na/Hg(s) wine
Calculations Based on Percent-by-Mass Data Chemists have historically described solutions in terms of percent-by-mass of one or more components of a mixture. By combining this information with measurements of the density of the solution we can determine the number of moles of each component.

Concentrated sulfuric acid is 96.0% H2SO4 by mass. (The remaining 4% is water.) The density of this solution is 1.84 g/cm3. Calculate the number of moles of H2SO4 in a liter of concentrated sulfuric acid. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 11 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 11
Concentration Extensive quantities such as mass and volume are often used when preparing solutions. We can talk about adding a teaspoon of sugar when we make ice tea, for example, or filling a 2-L pitcher with ice tea. But when we want to compare solutions, we need intensive quantities that tell us how much sugar has been added to a given volume of lemonade or ice tea. We need to know theconcentration of the solution, which is the ratio of the amount of solute to the amount of either solvent or solution.
There are many different ways in which the concentration of a solution can be reported, but concentration units always describe the ratio of the amount of solute in a sample to the amount of either the solvent or the solution.
Molarity Because so many calculations are based on the concept of the mole, the most commonly used concentration unit is based on the number of moles of solute per liter of solution.

What is the concentration of the Cu2+ ion in a solution prepared by dissolving 1.25 grams of CuSO 4 5 H2O in enough water to give 50.0 mL of solution? Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 12 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 12

Calculate the volume of 1.50 M HCl that would react with 25.0 grams of CaCO3 according to the following balanced equation. CaCO3(s) + 2 HCl(aq) Ca2+(aq) + 2 Cl-(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)

Assume that a metal reacts with hydrochloric acid according to the following balanced equation. M(s) + 2 HCl(aq) M2+(aq) + 2 Cl-(aq) + H2(g)
Calculate the atomic weight of the metal if 125 mL of 0.200 M HCl reacts with 0.304 g of the metal. M + 2 HCl Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 14 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 14 MCl2 + H2
Dilution Adding more solvent to a solution to decrease the concentration is known as dilution. Starting with a known volume of a solution of known molarity, we should be able to prepare a more dilute solution of any desired concentration.

Describe how you would prepare 2.50 liters of an 0.360 M solution of sulfuric acid starting with concentrated sulfuric acid that is 18.0 M. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 15 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 15
Titration We can measure the concentration of a solution by a technique known as a titration. The solution being studied is slowly added to a known quantity of a reagent with which it reacts until we observe something that tells us that exactly equivalent numbers of moles of the reagents are present. Titrations are therefore dependent on the existence of a class of compounds known as indicators. The endpoint of an acid-base titration is the point at which the indicator turns color. The equivalence point is the point at which exactly enough base has been added to neutralize the acid.
Acid/Base Titration (Titration of a base with an acid)
Problem: Calculate the molarity of an acetic acid solution if 34.57 mL of this solution are needed to neutralize 25.19 mL of 0.1025 M sodium hydroxide CH3COOH (aq) + NaOH (aq) Strategy: 1. Figure out how many moles of the titrant (in this case, the base) were needed. 2. Use the balanced chemical equation to calculate the moles of analyte (in this case, the acid) present. 3. Use the volume of analyte to find the concentration of the analyte. Empirical Formula 1 (Calculation of the empirical formula from mass data.) Na+(aq) + CH3COOH-(aq) + H2O (l)
Empirical Formula: The simplest ratio of the atoms present in a molecule.
Problem: Find the empirical formula for the oxide that contains 42.05 g of nitrogen and 95.95 g of oxygen. Strategy: As with most stoichiometry problems, it is necessary to work in moles. The ratio of the moles of each element will provide the ratio of the atoms of each element. 1. Convert the mass of each element to moles of each element using the atomic masses. 2. Find the ratio or the moles of each element by dividing the number of moles of each by the smallest number of moles. 3. Use the mole ratio to write the empirical formula.
Empirical Formula 2
Empirical Formula: The simplest ratio of the atoms present in a molecule.

Problem:
Find the empirical formula of a compound that is 48.38% carbon, 8.12% hydrogen, and 53.5% oxygen by mass.
Strategy:
As with most stoichiometry problems, it is necessary to work in moles. The ratio of the moles of each element will provide the ratio of the atoms of each element. 1. Get the mass of each element by assuming a certain overall mass for the sample (100 g is a good mass to assume when working with percentages). 2. Convert the mass of each element to moles of each element using the atomic masses. 3. Find the ratio or the moles of each element by dividing the number of moles of each by the smallest number of moles. 4. Use the mole ratio to write the empirical formula.
Molecular Formula 1
Molecular Formula: The actual formula for a molecule.

Problem:
A compound has an empirical formula of ClCH2 and a molecular weight of 98.96 g/mol. What is its molecular formula?
Strategy:
1. Find the mass of the empirical unit. 2. Figure out how many empirical units are in a molecular unit. 3. Write the molecular formula.
Molecular Formula 2
Molecular Formula: The actual formula for a molecule.

Problem:
A compound is 75.46% carbon, 4.43% hydrogen, and 20.10% oxygen by mass. It has a molecular weight of 318.31 g/mol. What is the molecular formula for this compound?
Strategy:
1. Find the empirical formula. o Get the mass of each element by assuming a certain overall mass for the sample (100 g is a good mass to assume when working with percentages). o Convert the mass of each element to moles. o Find the ratio of the moles of each element. o Use the mole ratio to write the empirical fomula. 2. Find the mass of the empirical unit. 3. Figure out how many empirical units are in a molecular unit. 4. Write the molecular formula.
Percent by Mass
Problem:
Calculate the percent by mass of phosphorus and chlorine in phosphorus trichloride (PCl3).
Strategy:
1. Assume one mole of phosporus trichloride. Find the moles of phosphorus and moles of chlorine. 2. Convert mole of each element to mass of each element. 3. Calculate the percent by mass of each element.
The States of Matter
The term state can be defined as a set of conditions that describe a person or thing at a given time. It is in this sense of the word that scientists divide matter into the three states shown in the figure below.
The three states of matter have characteristic properties. Solids have a distinct shape. When they melt, the resulting liquid conforms to the shape of its container. Gases expand to fill their containers.
There are two reasons for studying gases before liquids or solids. First, the behavior of gases is easier to describe because most of the properties of gases do not depend on the identity of the gas. We can therefore develop a model for a gas without worrying about whether the gas is O2, N2, H2, or a mixture of these gases. Second, a relatively simple, yet powerful, model known as thekinetic molecular theory is available, which explains most of the behavior of gases.
Elements or compounds that are Gases at Room Temperature Before examining the chemical and physical properties of gases, it might be useful to ask: What kinds of elements or compounds are gases at room temperature? To help answer this question, a list of some common compounds that are gases at room temperature is given in the table below. Common Gases at Room Temperature
Element or Compound H2 (hydrogen) He (helium) CH4 (methane) NH3 (ammonia) Ne (neon) HCN (hydrogen cyanide) CO (carbon monoxide) N2 (nitrogen) NO (nitrogen oxide) C2H6 (ethane) O2 (oxygen) PH3 (phosphine) H2S (hydrogen sulfide) HCl (hydrogen chloride) F2 (fluorine) Ar (argon)
Atomic or Molecular Weight 2.02 4.00 16.04 17.03 20.18 27.03 28.01 28.01 30.01 30.07 32.00 34.00 34.08 36.46 38.00 39.95
CO2 (carbon dioxide) N2O (dinitrogen oxide) C3H8 (propane) NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) O3 (ozone) C4H10 (butane) SO2 (sulfur dioxide) BF3 (boron trifluoride) Cl2 (chlorine) Kr (krypton) CF2Cl2 (dichlorodifluoromethane) SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) Xe (xenon)
There are several patterns in the table above.
44.01 44.01 44.10 46.01 48.00 58.12 64.06 67.80 70.91 83.80 120.91 146.05 131.30
Common gases at room temperature include both elements (such as H2 and O2) and compounds (such as CO2 and NH3). Elements that are gases at room temperature are all nonmetals (such as He, Ar, N2, O2, and so on). Compounds that are gases at room temperature are all covalent compounds(such as CO2, SO2, and NH3) that contain two or more nonmetals. With only rare exception, these gases have relatively small molecular weights.
As a general rule, compounds that consist of relatively light, covalent molecules are most likely to be gases at room temperature. Gases have three characteristic properties: (1) they are easy to compress, (2) they expand to fill their containers, and (3) they occupy far more space than the liquids or solids from which they form. Compressibility An internal combustion engine provides a good example of the ease with which gases can be compressed. In a typical four-stroke engine, the piston is first pulled out of the cylinder to create a partial vacuum, which draws a mixture of gasoline vapor and air into the cylinder (see figure below). The piston is then pushed into the cylinder, compressing the gasoline/air mixture to a fraction of its original volume.
The operation of a four-stroke engine can be divided into four cycles: intake, compression, power, and exhaust stages.
The ratio of the volume of the gas in the cylinder after the first stroke to its volume after the second stroke is the compression ratio of the engine. Modern cars run at compression ratios of about 9:1, which means the gasoline-air mixture in the cylinder is compressed by a factor of nine in the second stroke. After the gasoline/air mixture is compressed, the spark plug at the top of the cylinder fires and the resulting explosion pushes the piston out of the cylinder in the third stroke. Finally, the piston is pushed back into the cylinder in the fourth stroke, clearing out the exhaust gases. Liquids are much harder to compress than gases. They are so hard to compress that the hydraulic brake systems used in most cars operate on the principle that there is essentially no change in the volume of the brake fluid when pressure is applied to this liquid. Most solids are even harder to compress. The only exceptions belong to a rare class of compounds that includes natural and synthetic rubber. Most rubber balls that seem easy to compress, such as a racquetball, are filled with air, which is compressed when the ball is squeezed.
Expandability Anyone who has walked into a kitchen where bread was baking has experienced the fact that gases expand to fill their containers, as the air in the kitchen becomes filled with wonderful odors. Unfortunately the same thing happens when someone breaks open a rotten egg and the characteristic odor of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) rapidly diffuses through the room. Because gases expand to fill their containers, it is safe to assume that the volume of a gas is equal to the volume of its container.
Volumes of Gases Versus Volumes of Liquids or Solids The difference between the volume of a gas and the volume of the liquid or solid from which it forms can be illustrated with the following examples. One gram of liquid oxygen at its boiling point (-183oC) has a volume of 0.894 mL. The same amount of O2 gas at 0oC and atmospheric pressure has a volume of 700 mL, which is almost 800 times larger. Similar results are obtained when the volumes of solids and gases are compared. One gram of solid CO2 has a volume of 0.641 mL. At 0oC and atmospheric pressure, the same amount of CO2 gas has a volume of 556 mL, which is more than 850 times as large. As a general rule, the volume of a liquid or solid increases by a factor of about 800 when it forms a gas. The consequences of this enormous change in volume is frequently used to do work. The steam engine, which brought about the industrial revolution, is based on the fact that water boils to form a gas (steam) that has a much larger volume. The gas therefore escapes from the container in which it was generated and the escaping steam can be made to do work. The same principle is at work when dynamite is used to blast rocks. In 1867, the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel discovered that the highly dangerous liquid explosive known as nitroglycerin
could be absorbed onto clay or sawdust to produce a solid that was much more stable and therefore safer to use. When dynamite is detonated, the nitroglycerin decomposes to produce a mixture of CO2, H2O, N2, and O2 gases.
4 C3H5N3O9(l)
12 CO2(g) + 10 H2O(g) + 6 N2(g) + O2(g)
Because 29 moles of gas are produced for every four moles of liquid that decompose, and each mole of gas occupies a volume roughly 800 times larger than a mole of liquid, this reaction produces a shock wave that destroys anything in its vicinity. The same phenomenon occurs on a much smaller scale when we pop popcorn. When kernels of popcorn are heated in oil, the liquids inside the kernel turn into gases. The pressure that builds up inside the kernel is enormous and the kernel eventually explodes.
Pressure versus Force The volume of a gas is one of its characteristic properties. Another characteristic property is thepressure the gas exerts on its surroundings. Many of us got our first exposure to the pressure of a gas when we rode to the neighborhood gas station to check the pressure of our bicycle tires. Depending on the kind of bicycle we had, we added air to the tires until the pressure gauge read between 30 and 70 pounds per square inch (lb/in2 or psi). Two important properties of pressure can be obtained from this example. 1. The pressure of a gas becomes larger as more gas is added to the container. 2. Pressure is measured in units (such as lb/in2) that describe the force exerted by the gas divided by the area over which this force is distributed. The first conclusion can be summarized in the following relationship, where P is the pressure of the gas and n is the amount of gas in the container.
Because the pressure increases as gas is added to the container, P is directly proportional to n. The second conclusion describes the relationship between pressure and force. Pressure is defined as the force exerted on an object divided by the area over which the force is distributed.
The difference between pressure and force can be illustrated with an analogy based on a 10penny nail, a hammer, and a piece of wood shown in the figure below. By resting the nail on its point, and hitting the head with the hammer, we can drive the nail into the wood. But what happens if we turn the nail over and rest the head of the nail against the wood? If we hit the nail with the same force, we can't get the nail to stick into the wood.
When we hit the nail on the head, the force of this blow is applied to the very small area of the wood in contact with the sharp point of the nail, and the nail slips easily into the wood. But when we turn the nail over, and hit it on the point, the force is distributed over a much larger area. The force is now distributed over the surface of the wood that touches any part of the nail head. As a result, the pressure applied to the wood is much smaller and the nail just bounces off the wood. Boyle's Law Torricelli's experiment did more than just show that air has weight; it also provided a way of creating a vacuum because the space above the column of mercury at the top of a barometer is almost completely empty. (It is free of air or other gases except a negligible amount of mercury vapor.) Torricelli's work with a vacuum soon caught the eye of the British scientist Robert Boyle. Boyle's most famous experiments with gases dealt with what he called the "spring of air." These experiments were based on the observation that gases are elastic. (They return to their original size and shape after being stretched or squeezed.) Boyle studied the elasticity of gases in a J-tube similar to the apparatus shown in the figure below. By adding mercury to the open end of the tube, he trapped a small volume of air in the sealed end.
Boyle studied what happened to the volume of the gas in the sealed end of the tube as he added mercury to the open end. Boyle noticed that the product of the pressure times the volume for any measurement in this table was equal to the product of the pressure times the volume for any other measurement, within experimental error. P1V1 = P2V2 This expression, or its equivalent,
is now known as Boyle's Law.
Practice Problem 3:
Calculate the pressure in atmospheres in a motorcycle engine at the end of the compression stroke. Assume that at the start of the stroke, the pressure of the mixture of gasoline and air in the cylinder is 745.8 mm Hg and the volume of each cylinder is 246.8 mL. Assume that the volume of the cylinder is 24.2 mL at the end of the compression stroke. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 3. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 3.
Amonton's Law Toward the end of the 1600s, the French physicist Guillaume Amontons built a thermometer based on the fact that the pressure of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature. The relationship between the pressure and the temperature of a gas is therefore known as Amontons' law. P T
Amontons' law explains why car manufacturers recommend adjusting the pressure of your tires before you start on a trip. The flexing of the tire as you drive inevitably raises the temperature of the air in the tire. When this happens, the pressure of the gas inside the tires increases. Amontons' law can be demonstrated with the apparatus shown in the figure below, which consists of a pressure gauge connected to a metal sphere of constant volume, which is immersed in solutions that have different temperatures.
The apparatus for demonstrating Amonton's law consists of .

The following data were obtained with this apparatus.
In 1779 Joseph Lambert proposed a definition for absolute zero on the temperature scale that was based on the straight-line relationship between the temperature and pressure of a gas shown in the figure above. He defined absolute zero as the temperature at which the pressure of a gas becomes zero when a plot of pressure versus temperature for a gas is extrapolated. The pressure of a gas approaches zero when the temperature is about -270C. When more accurate measurements are made, the pressure of a gas extrapolates to zero when the temperature is -273.15C. Absolute zero on the Celsius scale is therefore -273.15C. The relationship between temperature and pressure can be greatly simplified by converting the temperatures from the Celsius to the Kelvin scale. TK = ToC + 273.15 When this is done, a plot of the temperature versus the pressure of a gas gives a straight line that passes through the origin. Any two points along the line therefore fit the following equation.
It is important to remember that this equation is only valid if the temperatures are converted from the Celsius to the Kelvin scale before calculations are done.
Practice Problem 4:
Assume that the pressure in the tires of your car is 32 lb/in2 at 20C. What is the pressure when the gas in these tires heats up to a temperature of 40C? Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 4. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 4.
Charles' Law
On 5 June 1783, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier used a fire to inflate a spherical balloon about 30 feet in diameter that traveled about a mile and one-half before it came back to earth. News of this remarkable achievement spread throughout France, and JacquesAlexandre-Cesar Charles immediately tried to duplicate this performance. As a result of his work with balloons, Charles noticed that the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature. V T
This relationship between the temperature and volume of a gas, which became known as Charles' law, provides an explanation of how hot-air balloons work. Ever since the third century B.C., it has been known that an object floats when it weighs less than the fluid it displaces. If a gas expands when heated, then a given weight of hot air occupies a larger volume than the same weight of cold air. Hot air is therefore less dense than cold air. Once the air in a balloon gets hot enough, the net weight of the balloon plus this hot air is less than the weight of an equivalent volume of cold air, and the balloon starts to rise. When the gas in the balloon is allowed to cool, the balloon returns to the ground. Charles' law can be demonstrated with the apparatus shown in the figure below. A 30-mL syringe and a thermometer are inserted through a rubber stopper into a flask that has been cooled to 0C. The ice bath is then removed and the flask is immersed in a warm-water bath. The gas in the flask expands as it warms, slowly pushing the piston out of the syringe. The total volume of the gas in the system is equal to the volume of the flask plus the volume of the syringe.
The figure below shows a plot of the typical data obtained from this experiment.
This graph provides us with another way of defining absolute zero on the temperature scale.Absolute zero is the temperature at which the volume of a gas becomes zero when the a plot of the volume versus temperature for a gas are extrapolated. As expected, the value of absolute zero obtained by extrapolating the data is essentially the same as the value obtained from the graph of pressure versus temperature in the preceding section. Absolute zero can therefore be more accurately defined as the temperature at which the pressure and the volume of a gas extrapolate to zero. A plot of the volume versus the temperature of a gas (when the temperatures obtained are converted from Celsius to the Kelvin scale) becomes a straight line that passes through the origin. Any two points along this line can therefore be used to construct the following equation, which is known as Charles' law.
Before using this equation, it is important to remember that temperatures must be converted from C to K.
Practice Problem 5:
Assume that the volume of a balloon filled with H2 is 1.00 L at 25C. Calculate the volume of the balloon when it is cooled to -78C in a low-temperature bath made by adding dry ice to acetone. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 5. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 5.
Gay-Lussac's Law Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) began his career in 1801 by very carefully showing the validity of Charles' law for a number of different gases. Gay-Lussac's most important contributions to the study of gases, however, were experiments he performed on the ratio of the volumes of gases involved in a chemical reaction.
Gay-Lussac studied the volume of gases consumed or produced in a chemical reaction because he was interested in the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to form water. He argued that measurements of the weights of hydrogen and oxygen consumed in this reaction could be influenced by the moisture present in the reaction flask, but this moisture would not affect the volumes of hydrogen and oxygen gases consumed in the reaction. Much to his surprise, Gay-Lussac found that 199.89 parts by volume of hydrogen were consumed for every 100 parts by volume of oxygen. Thus, hydrogen and oxygen seemed to combine in a simple 2:1 ratio by volume.
hydrogen + oxygen
2 volumes 1 volume
water
Gay-Lussac found similar whole-number ratios for the reaction between other pairs of gases. The compound we now know as hydrogen chloride (HCl) combined with ammonia (NH3) in a simple 1:1 ratio by volume:
hydrogen chloride + ammonia

1 volume 1 volume
ammonium chloride
Carbon monoxide combined with oxygen in a 2:1 ratio by volume:
carbon monoxide + oxygen

2 volumes 1 volume
carbon dioxide
Gay-Lussac obtained similar results when he analyzed the volumes of gases given off when compounds decomposed. Ammonia, for example, decomposed to give three times as much hydrogen by volume as nitrogen:
ammonia
nitrogen + hydrogen
1 volume 3 volumes
On 31 December 1808, Gay-Lussac announced his law of combining volumes to a meeting of the Societ Philomatique in Paris. At that time, he summarized the law as follows: Gases combine among themselves in very simple proportions. Today, Gay-Lussac's law is stated as follows: The ratio of the volumes of gases consumed or produced in a chemical reaction is equal to the ratio of simple whole numbers.
Practice Problem 6:
Use the following balanced chemical equations to explain the results of GayLussac's experiments: 2 H2(g) + O2(g) HCl(g) + NH3(g) 2 CO(g) + O2(g) 2 NH3(g) 2H2O(g) NH4Cl(s) 2 CO2(g)
N2 + 3 H2(g)
Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 6.
Avogadro's Hypothesis Gay-Lussac's law of combining volumes was announced only a few years after John Dalton proposed his atomic theory. The link between these two ideas was first recognized by the Italian physicist Amadeo Avogadro three years later, in 1811. Avogadro argued that GayLussac's law of combining volumes could be explained by assuming that equal volumes of different gases collected under similar conditions contain the same number of particles. HCl and NH3 therefore combine in a 1:1 ratio by volume because one molecule of HCl is consumed for every molecule of NH3 in this reaction and equal volumes of these gases contain the same number of molecules.
NH3(g) + HCl(g)
NH4Cl(s)
Anyone who has blown up a balloon should accept the notion that the volume of a gas is proportional to the number of particles in the gas. V n
The more air you add to a balloon, the bigger it gets. Unfortunately this example does not testAvogadro's hypothesis that equal volumes of different gases contain the same number of particles. The best way to probe the validity of this hypothesis is to measure the number of molecules in a given volume of different gases, which can be done with the apparatus shown in the figure below.
A small hole is drilled through the plunger of a 50-mL plastic syringe. The plunger is then pushed into the syringe and the syringe is sealed with a syringe cap. The plunger is then pulled out of the syringe until the volume reads 50 mL and a nail is inserted through the hole in the plunger so that the plunger is not sucked back into the barrel of the syringe. The "empty" syringe is then weighed, the syringe is filled with 50 mL of a gas, and the syringe is reweighed. The difference between these measurements is the mass of 50 mL of the gas. The results of experiments with six gases are given in the table below. Experimental Data for the Mass of 50-mL Samples of Different Gases
Mass of Molecular Number of Compound 50 mL of Gas (g) Weight of Gas Gas Molecules H2 0.005 2.02 1 x 1021 N2 0.055 28.01 1.2 x 1021 O2 0.061 32.00 1.1 x 1021 CO2 0.088 44.01 1.2 x 1021 C4H10 0.111 58.12 1.15 x 1021 CCl2F2 0.228 120.91 1.14 x 1021
The number of molecules in a 50-mL sample of any one of these gases can be calculated from the mass of the sample, the molecular weight of the gas, and the number of molecules in a mole. Consider the following calculation of the number of H2 molecules in 50 mL of hydrogen gas, for example.
The last column in the table above summarizes the results obtained when this calculation is repeated for each gas. The number of significant figures in the answer changes from one calculation to the next. But the number of molecules in each sample is the same, within experimental error. We therefore conclude that equal volumes of different gases collected under the same conditions of temperature and pressure do in fact contain the same number of particles.
The Ideal Gas Equation Gases can described in terms of four variables: pressure (P), volume (V), temperature (T), and the amount of gas (n). There are five relationships between pairs of these variables in which two of the variables were allowed to cahnge while the other two were held constant.
P Boyle's law: P Amontons' law: P Charles' law: V Avogadro's hypothesis: V
n 1/V T T n
(T and V constant) (T and n constant) (V and n constant) (P and n constant) (P and T constant)
Each of these relationships is a special case of a more general relationship known as the ideal gas equation. PV = nRT In this equation, R is a proportionality constant known as the ideal gas constant and T is the absolute temperature. The value of R depends on the units used to express the four variables P, V,n, and T. By convention, most chemists use the following set of units.
P: atmospheres T: kelvin V: liters n: moles
Practice Problem 7:
Calculate the value of the ideal gas constant, R, if exactly 1 mole of an ideal gas occupies a volume of 22.414 liters at 0C and 1 atmosphere pressure. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 7.
Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 7.
Ideal Gas Calculations The ideal gas equation can be used to predict the value of any one of the variables that describe a gas from known values of the other three.
Practice Problem 8: Many gases are available for use inthe laboratory in compressed gas cylinders, in which they are stored at high pressures. Let's calculate the mass of O2 that can be stored at 21C and 170 atm in a cylinder with a volume of 60.0 L. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 8. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 8.
The key to solving ideal gas problems often involves recognizing what is known and deciding how to use this information.
Practice Problem 9:
Let's calculate the mass of the air in a hot-air balloon that has a volume of 4.00 x 105 liters when the temperature of the gas is 30C and the presure is 748 mmHg. Let's assume the average molar mass of air is 29.0 grams per mole. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 9. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 9.
The ideal gas equation can be applied to problems that don't seem to ask for one of the variables in this equation.

Let's calculate the molecular weight of butane if 0.5813 gram of this gas fills a 250.0-mL flask at a temperature of 24.4C and a pressure of 742.6 mmHg. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 10. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 10.
The ideal gas equation can even be used to solve problems that don't seem to contain enough information.

Let's calculate the density in grams per liter of O2 gas at 0C and 1.00 atm. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 11. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 11.
Gas law problems often ask you to predict what happens when one or more changes are made in the variables that describe the gas. There are two ways of working these problems. A powerful approach is based on the fact that the ideal gas constant is in fact a constant. We start by solving the ideal gas equation for the ideal gas constant.
We then note that the ratio of PV/nT at any time must be equal to this ratio at any other time.
We then substitute the known values of pressure, temperature, volume, and amount of gas into this equation and solve for the appropriate unknown. This approach has two advantages. First, only one equation has to be remembered. Second, it can be used to handle problems in which more than one variable changes at a time.
Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics describes the atmosphere as 78.084% N2, 20.946% O2, 0.934% Ar, and 0.033% CO2 by volume when the water vapor has been removed. What image does this description evoke in your mind? Do you believe that only 20.463% of the room in which you are sitting contains O2? Or do you believe that the atmosphere in your room is a more or less homogeneous mixture of these gases? Gases expand to fill their containers. The volume of O2 in your room is therefore the same as the volume of N2. (Both gases expand to fill the room.) When we describe the atmosphere as 20.946% O2 by volume, we mean that the volume of the atmosphere would shrink by 20.946% if the O2 is removed. What about the pressure of the different gases in your room? Is the pressure of the O2 in the atmosphere the same as the pressure of the N2? We can answer this question by rearranging the ideal gas equation as follows.
According to this equation, the pressure of a gas is proportional to the number of moles of gas, if the temperature and volume are held constant. Because the temperature and volume of the O2 and N2 in the atmosphere are the same, the pressure of each gas must be proportional to the number of the moles of the gas. Because there is more N2 in the atmosphere than O2, the contribution to the total pressure of the atmosphere from N2 is larger than the contribution from O2. John Dalton was the first to recognize that the total pressure of a mixture of gases is the sum of the contributions of the individual components of the mixture. By convention, the part of the total pressure of a mixture that results from one component is called the partial pressure of that component. Dalton's law of partial pressures states that the total pressure of a mixture of gases is the sum of the partial pressures of the various components. PT = P1 + P2 + P3 + ...

Calculate the total pressure of a mixture that contains 1.00 g H2 and 1.00 g of He in a 5.00 L container at 21 C. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 12. Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 12.
Dalton derived the law of partial pressures from his work on the amount of water vapor that could be absorbed by air at different temperatures. It is therefore fitting that this law is used most often to correct for the amount of water vapor picked up when a gas is collected by displacing water. Suppose, for example, that we want to collect a sample of O2 prepared by heating potassium chlorate until it decomposes.
2 KClO3(s)
2 KCl(s) + 3 O2(g)
The gas given off in this reaction can be collected by filling a flask with water, inverting the flask in a trough, and then letting the gas bubble into the flask as shown in the figure below.
Because some of the water in the flask will evaporate during the experiment, the gas that collects in this flask is going to be a mixture of O2 and water vapor. The total pressure of this gas is the sum of the partial pressures of these two components. PT = Poxygen + Pwater The total pressure of this mixture must be equal to atmospheric pressure. (If it was any greater, the gas would push water out of the container. If it was any less, water would be
forced into the container.) If we had some way to estimate the partial pressure of the water in this system, we could therefore calculate the partial pressure of the oxygen gas. By convention, the partial pressure of the gas that collects in a closed container above a liquid is known as the vapor pressure of the liquid. If we know the temperature at which a gas is collected by displacing water, and we assume that the gas is saturated with water vapor at this temperature, we can calculate the partial pressure of the gas by subtracting the vapor pressure of water from the total pressure of the mixture of gases collected in the experiment. The Kinetic Molecular Theory Postulates The experimental observations about the behavior of gases discussed so far can be explained with a simple theoretical model known as the kinetic molecular theory. This theory is based on the following postulates, or assumptions.
1. Gases are composed of a large number of particles that behave like hard, spherical objects in a state of constant, random motion. 2. These particles move in a straight line until they collide with another particle or the walls of the container. 3. These particles are much smaller than the distance between particles. Most of the volume of a gas is therefore empty space. 4. There is no force of attraction between gas particles or between the particles and the walls of the container. 5. Collisions between gas particles or collisions with the walls of the container are perfectly elastic. None of the energy of a gas particle is lost when it collides with another particle or with the walls of the container. 6. The average kinetic energy of a collection of gas particles depends on the temperature of the gas and nothing else.
The assumptions behind the kinetic molecular theory can be illustrated with the apparatus shown in the figure below, which consists of a glass plate surrounded by walls mounted on top of three vibrating motors. A handful of steel ball bearings are placed on top of the glass plate to represent the gas particles.
When the motors are turned on, the glass plate vibrates, which makes the ball bearings move in a constant, random fashion (postulate 1). Each ball moves in a straight line until it collides
with another ball or with the walls of the container (postulate 2). Although collisions are frequent, the average distance between the ball bearings is much larger than the diameter of the balls (postulate 3). There is no force of attraction between the individual ball bearings or between the ball bearings and the walls of the container (postulate 4). The collisions that occur in this apparatus are very different from those that occur when a rubber ball is dropped on the floor. Collisions between the rubber ball and the floor are inelastic, as shown in the figure below. A portion of the energy of the ball is lost each time it hits the floor, until it eventually rolls to a stop. In this apparatus, the collisions are perfectly elastic. The balls have just as much energy after a collision as before (postulate 5).
Any object in motion has a kinetic energy that is defined as one-half of the product of its mass times its velocity squared. KE = 1/2 mv2 At any time, some of the ball bearings on this apparatus are moving faster than others, but the system can be described by an average kinetic energy. When we increase the "temperature" of the system by increasing the voltage to the motors, we find that the average kinetic energy of the ball bearings increases (postulate 6).
How the Kinetic Molecular Theory Explains the Gas Laws

The kinetic molecular theory can be used to explain each of the experimentally determined gas laws. The Link Between P and n The pressure of a gas results from collisions between the gas particles and the walls of the container. Each time a gas particle hits the wall, it exerts a force on the wall. An increase in the number of gas particles in the container increases the frequency of collisions with the walls and therefore the pressure of the gas. Amontons' Law (P T)
The last postulate of the kinetic molecular theory states that the average kinetic energy of a gas particle depends only on the temperature of the gas. Thus, the average kinetic energy of the gas particles increases as the gas becomes warmer. Because the mass of these particles is constant, their kinetic energy can only increase if the average velocity of the particles increases. The faster these particles are moving when they hit the wall, the greater the force they exert on the wall. Since the force per collision becomes larger as the temperature increases, the pressure of the gas must increase as well.
Boyle's Law (P = 1/v) Gases can be compressed because most of the volume of a gas is empty space. If we compress a gas without changing its temperature, the average kinetic energy of the gas particles stays the same. There is no change in the speed with which the particles move, but the container is smaller. Thus, the particles travel from one end of the container to the other in a shorter period of time. This means that they hit the walls more often. Any increase in the frequency of collisions with the walls must lead to an increase in the pressure of the gas. Thus, the pressure of a gas becomes larger as the volume of the gas becomes smaller. Charles' Law (V T)
The average kinetic energy of the particles in a gas is proportional to the temperature of the gas. Because the mass of these particles is constant, the particles must move faster as the gas becomes warmer. If they move faster, the particles will exert a greater force on the container each time they hit the walls, which leads to an increase in the pressure of the gas. If the walls of the container are flexible, it will expand until the pressure of the gas once more balances the pressure of the atmosphere. The volume of the gas therefore becomes larger as the temperature of the gas increases. Avogadro's Hypothesis (V N)
As the number of gas particles increases, the frequency of collisions with the walls of the container must increase. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the pressure of the gas. Flexible containers, such as a balloon, will expand until the pressure of the gas inside the balloon once again balances the pressure of the gas outside. Thus, the volume of the gas is proportional to the number of gas particles. Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures (Pt = P1 + P2 + P3 + ...) Imagine what would happen if six ball bearings of a different size were added to the
molecular dynamics simulator. The total pressure would increase because there
would be more collisions with the walls of the container. But the pressure due to the collisions between the original ball bearings and the walls of the container would remain the same. There is so much empty space in the container that each type of ball bearing hits the walls of the container as often in the mixture as it did when there was only one kind of ball bearing on the glass plate. The total number of collisions with the wall in this mixture is therefore equal to the sum of the collisions that would occur when each size of ball bearing is present by itself. In other words, the total pressure of a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the individual gases.
Graham's Laws of Diffusion and Effusion A few of the physical properties of gases depend on the identity of the gas. One of these physical properties can be seen when the movement of gases is studied. In 1829 Thomas Graham used an apparatus similar to the one shown in
the figure
below
to study the diffusion of gases
the rate at which two gases mix. This apparatus
consists of a glass tube sealed at one end with plaster that has holes large enough to allow a gas to enter or leave the tube. When the tube is filled with H2 gas, the level of water in the tube slowly rises because the H2 molecules inside the tube escape through the holes in the plaster more rapidly than the molecules in air can enter the tube. By studying the rate at which the water level in this apparatus changed, Graham was able to obtain data on the rate at which different gases mixed with air.
Graham found that the rates at which gases diffuse is inversely proportional to the square root of their densities.
This relationship eventually became known as Graham's law of diffusion. To understand the importance of this discovery we have to remember that equal volumes of different gases contain the same number of particles. As a result, the number of moles of gas per liter at a given temperature and pressure is constant, which means that the density of a gas is directly proportional to its molecular weight. Graham's law of diffusion can therefore also be written as follows.
Similar results were obtained when Graham studied the rate of effusion of a gas, which is the rate at which the gas escapes through a pinhole into a vacuum. The rate of effusion of a gas is also inversely proportional to the square root of either the density or the molecular weight of the gas.
Graham's law of effusion can be demonstrated with the apparatus in the figure below. A thick-walled filter flask is evacuated with a vacuum pump. A syringe is filled with 25 mL of gas
and the time required for the gas to escape through the syringe needle into the evacuated filter flask is measured with a stop watch.
As we can see when data obtained in this experiment are graphed in the figure below, the timerequired for 25-mL samples of different gases to escape into a vacuum is proportional to the square root of the molecular weight of the gas. The rate at which the gases effuse is therefore inversely proportional to the square root of the molecular weight. Graham's observations about the rate at which gases diffuse (mix) or effuse (escape through a pinhole) suggest that relatively light gas particles such as H2 molecules or He atoms move faster than relatively heavy gas particles such as CO2 or SO2 molecules.
The Kinetic Molecular Theory and Graham's Laws The kinetic molecular theory can be used to explain the results Graham obtained when he studied the diffusion and effusion of gases. The key to this explanation is the last postulate of the kinetic theory, which assumes that the temperature of a system is proportional to the average kinetic energy of its particles and nothing else. In other words, the temperature of a system increases if and only if there is an increase in the average kinetic energy of its particles. Two gases, such as H2 and O2, at the same temperature, therefore must have the same average kinetic energy. This can be represented by the following equation.
This equation can be simplified by multiplying both sides by two.
It can then be rearranged to give the following.
Taking the square root of both sides of this equation gives a relationship between the ratio of the velocities at which the two gases move and the square root of the ratio of their molecular weights.
This equation is a modified form of Graham's law. It suggests that the velocity (or rate) at which gas molecules move is inversely proportional to the square root of their molecular weights. Van der Waals Equation The behavior of real gases usually agrees with the predictions of the ideal gas equation to within 5% at normal temperatures and pressures. At low temperatures or high pressures, real gases deviate significantly from ideal gas behavior. In 1873, while searching for a way to link the behavior of liquids and gases, the Dutch physicist Johannes van der Waals developed an explanation for these deviations and an equation that was able to fit the behavior of real gases over a much wider range of pressures. Van der Waals realized that two of the assumptions of the kinetic molecular theory were questionable. The kinetic theory assumes that gas particles occupy a negligible fraction of the total volume of the gas. It also assumes that the force of attraction between gas molecules is zero. The first assumption works at pressures close to 1 atm. But something happens to the validity of this assumption as the gas is compressed. Imagine for the moment that the atoms or molecules in a gas were all clustered in one corner of a cylinder, as shown in the figure below. At normal pressures, the volume occupied by these particles is a negligibly small fraction of the total volume of the gas. But at high pressures, this is no longer true. As a result, real gases are not as compressible at high pressures as an ideal gas. The volume of a real gas is therefore larger than expected from the ideal gas equation at high pressures.
Van der Waals proposed that we correct for the fact that the volume of a real gas is too large at high pressures by subtracting a term from the volume of the real gas before we substitute it into the ideal gas equation. He therefore introduced a constant constant (b) into the ideal gas equation that was equal to the volume actually occupied by a mole of gas particles. Because the volume of the gas particles depends on the number of moles of gas in the container, the term that is subtracted from the real volume of the gas is equal to the number of moles of gas times b. P(V - nb) = nRT When the pressure is relatively small, and the volume is reasonably large, the nb term is too small to make any difference in the calculation. But at high pressures, when the volume of the gas is small, the nb term corrects for the fact that the volume of a real gas is larger than expected from the ideal gas equation. The assumption that there is no force of attraction between gas particles cannot be true. If it was, gases would never condense to form liquids. In reality, there is a small force of attraction between gas molecules that tends to hold the molecules together. This force of attraction has two consequences: (1) gases condense to form liquids at low temperatures and (2) the pressure of a real gas is sometimes smaller than expected for an ideal gas. To correct for the fact that the pressure of a real gas is smaller than expected from the ideal gas equation, van der Waals added a term to the pressure in this equation. This term contained a second constant (a) and has the form: an2/V2. The complete van der Waals equation is therefore written as follows.
This equation is something of a mixed blessing. It provides a much better fit with the behavior of a real gas than the ideal gas equation. But it does this at the cost of a loss in generality. The ideal gas equation is equally valid for any gas, whereas the van der Waals equation contains a pair of constants (a and b) that change from gas to gas. The ideal gas equation predicts that a plot of PV versus P for a gas would be a horizontal line because PV should be a constant. Experimental data for PV versus P for H2 and N2 gas at 0C and CO2 at 40C are given in the figure below. Values of the van der Waals constants for these and other gases are given in the table below. van der Waals Constants for Various Gases
Compound He Ne H2 Ar O2 N2 CO CH4 CO2
a (L2-atm/mol2) 0.03412 0.2107 0.2444 1.345 1.360 1.390 1.485 2.253 3.592
b (L/mol) 0.02370 0.01709 0.02661 0.03219 0.03803 0.03913 0.03985 0.04278 0.04267
NH3
4.170
0.03707
The magnitude of the deviations from ideal gas behavior can be illustrated by comparing the results of calculations using the ideal gas equation and the van der Waals equation for 1.00 mole of CO2 at 0oC in containers of different volumes. Let's start with a 22.4 L container. According to the ideal gas equation, the pressure of this gas should be 1.00 atm.
Substituting what we know about CO2 into the van der Waals equation gives a much more complex equation.
This equation can be solved, however, for the pressure of the gas. P = 0.995 atm At normal temperatures and pressures, the ideal gas and van der Waals equations give essentially the same results. Let's now repeat this calculation, assuming that the gas is compressed so that it fills a container that has a volume of only 0.200 liters. According to the ideal gas equation, the pressure would have to be increased to 112 atm to compress 1.00 mol of CO2 at 0C to a volume of 0.200 L.
The van der Waals equation, however, predicts that the pressure will only have to increase to 52.6 atm to achieve the same results.
P = 52.6 atm
As the pressure of CO2 increases the van der Waals equation initially gives pressures that aresmaller than the ideal gas equation, as shown in the figure below, because of the strong force of attraction between CO2 molecules.
A plot of the product of the pressure times the volume for samples of H2, N2, CO2 gases versus the pressure of these gases.
Let's now compress the gas even further, raising the pressure until the volume of the gas is only 0.0500 liters. The ideal gas equation predicts that the pressure would have to increase to 448 atm to condense 1.00 mole of CO2 at 0oC to a volume of 0.0500 L.
The van der Waals equation predicts that the pressure will have to reach 1620 atm to achieve the same results.
P = 1620 atm The van der Waals equation gives results that are larger than the ideal gas equation at very high pressures, as shown in the figure above, because of the volume occupied by the CO2 molecules.
Analysis of the van der Waals Constants The van der Waals equation contains two constants, a and b, that are characteristic properties of a particular gas. The first of these constants corrects for the force of attraction between gas particles. Compounds for which the force of attraction between particles is strong have large values for a. If you think about what happens when a liquid boils, you might expect that compounds with large values of a would have higher boiling points. (As the force of attraction between gas particles becomes stronger, we have to go to higher temperatures before we can
break the bonds between the molecules in the liquid to form a gas.) It isn't surprising to find a correlation between the value of the a constant in the van der Waals equation and the boiling points of a number of simple compounds, as shown in the fugure below. Gases with very small values of a, such as H2 and He, must be cooled to almost absolute zero before they condense to form a liquid.
The other van der Waals constant, b, is a rough measure of the size of a gas particle. According to the table of van der Waals constants, the volume of a mole of argon atoms is 0.03219 liters. This number can be used to estimate the volume of an individual argon atom.
The volume of an argon atom can then be converted into cubic centimeters using the appropriate unit factors.
If we assume that argon atoms are spherical, we can estimate the radius of these atoms. We start by noting that the volume of a sphere is related to its radius by the following formula. V = 4/3 r3 We then assume that the volume of an argon atom is 5.345 x 10-23 cm and calculate the radius of the atom. r = 2.3 x 10-8 cm According to this calculation, an argon atom has a radius of about 2 x 10-8 cm. Temperature is a quantitative measure of the degree to which an object is "cold" or "hot."
The Celsius (oC) and Fahrenheit (oF) scales measure relative temperatures. These scales compare the temperature being measured with arbitrary standards such as boiling water and an ice-water bath. The Kelvin scale measures absolute temperatures. On this scale, the temperature of an object is compared with the temperature at which the volume and pressure of an ideal gas extrapolate to zero. Temperature is an intensive property, which does not depend on the size of the sample. When we mix two 50-mL samples of water at 20oC, for example, the mass doubles and the volume doubles, but the temperature remains the same. Heat Heat is a way of transferring energy between a system and its surroundings that often, but not always, changes the temperature of the system. Heat is not conserved, it can be either created or destroyed. In the metric system, heat is measured in units of calories, which are defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water from 14.5oC to 15.5oC. In the SI system, the unit of heat is the joule.
Heat Capacity The heat capacity of a substance is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a defined amount of pure substances by one degree (Celsius or Kelvin). The calorie was defined so that the heat capacity of water was equal to one.
Specific Heat
The specific heat of a substance is the number of calories needed to raise the temperature of one gram by 1oC. Because one degree on the Celsius scale is equal to one Kelvin, specific heats in the metric system can be reported in units of either cal/g-oC or cal/g-K. The units of specific heat in the SI system are J/g-K. Because there are 4.184 joules in a calorie, the specific heat of water is 4.184 J/g-K. The ease with which a substance gains or loses heat can also be described in terms of its molar heat capacity, which is the heat required to raise the temperature of one mole of the substance by either 1oC or 1 K. In the metric system, the units of molar heat capacities are therefore either cal/mol-oC or cal/mol-K. In the SI system the units of molar heat capacities are J/mol-K.
Practice Problem 1:
Use the following equality to calculate the specific heat of water in J/g-K and the molar heat capacity of water in J/mol-K. 1 cal = 4.184 J Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 1 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 1
Latent Heat When ice is heated, the heat that initially enters the system is used to melt the ice. As the ice melts the temperature remains constant at 0oC. The amount of heat required to melt the icehas historically been called the latent heat of fusion. Once the ice has melted, the temperature of the water slowly increases from 0oC to 100oC. But once the water starts to boil, the heat that enters the sample is used to convert the liquid into a gas and the temperature of the sample remains constant until the liquid evaporates. The amount of heat required to boil, or vaporize, the liquid has historically been called the latent heat of vaporization.
More than 200 years ago, Joseph Black distinguished between sensible heat and latent heat. Heat that raises the temperature of the system can be sensed, but heat that results in a change in the state of the system from solid to liquid or from liquid to gas is latent. Like the latent image on photograph film that hasn't been developed or latent fingerprints that can't be seen with the naked eye, latent heat is heat that enters the system without changing the temperature of the system.
Heat and The Kinetic Molecular Theory The system is the small portion of the universe in which we are interested, such as the water in a beaker or a gas trapped in a piston and cylinder, as shown in the figures below. The surroundingsare everything else in other words, the rest of the universe.
The system and its surroundings are separated by a boundary. Heat is transferred across the boundary between a system and its surroundings. One of the fundamental principles of the kinetic theory is the assumption that the average kinetic energy of a collection of gas particles depends on the temperature of the gas and
nothing else. A gas becomes warmer if and only if the average kinetic energy of the gas particles increases. Heat, when it raises the temperature of a system, produces an increase in the speed with which the particles of the system move, as shown in the figure below.
Definition of Work Work can be defined as the product of the force used to move an object times the distance the object is moved. w=Fxd
Practice Problem 2:
Calculate the amount of work that has to be done to lift a 10-pound bag of groceries a distance of 2.5 feet from the floor to the top of the kitchen counter. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 2
Imagine a system that consists of a sample of ammonia trapped in a piston and cylinder, as shown in the figure below. Assume that the pressure of the gas pushing up on the piston just balances the weight of the piston, so that the volume of the gas is constant. Now assume that the gas decomposes to form nitrogen and hydrogen, increasing the number of gas particles in the container. If the temperature and pressure of the gas are held constant, this means that the volume of the gas must increase. 2 NH3(g) N2(g) + 3 H2(g)
The volume of the gas can increase by pushing the piston partway out of the cylinder. The amount of work done is equal to the product of the force exerted on the piston times the distance the piston is moved. w=Fxd
The pressure (P) the gas exerts on the piston is equal to the force (F) with which it pushes up on the piston divided by the surface area (A) of the piston.
Thus, the force exerted by the gas is equal to the product of its pressure times the surface area of the piston. F=PxA Substituting this expression into the equation defining work gives the following result. w = ( P x A) x d The product of the area of the piston times the distance the piston moves is equal to the change that occurs in the volume of the system when the gas expands. By convention, the change in the volume is represented by the symbol V=Axd The magnitude of the work done when a gas expands is therefore equal to the product of the pressure of the gas times the change in the volume of the gas. |w | = P V V.
The Joule - Measuring Heat and Work By definition, one joule is the work done when a force of one newton is used to move an object one meter. 1 J = 1 N-m Because work can be converted into heat and vice versa, the SI system uses the joule to measure energy in the form of both heat and work.
The First Law of Thermodynamics: Conservation of Energy The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. A system can gain or lose energy. But any change in the energy of the system must be accompanied by an equivalent change in the energy of its surroundings because the total energy of the universe is constant. The first law of thermodynamics can be described by the following equation. Euniv = Esys + Esurr = 0
(The subscripts univ, sys, and surr stand for the universe, the system and its surroundings.)
Internal Energy The energy of a system is often called its internal energy because it is the sum of the kinetic and potential energies of the particles that form the system. Because there is no interaction between particles, the only contribution to the internal energy of an ideal gas is the kinetic energy of the particles. The internal energy of an ideal gas is therefore directly proportional to the temperature of the gas.
(In this equation, R is the ideal gas constant and T is the temperature of the gas in units of Kelvin.) Although it is difficult, if not impossible, to write an equation for more complex systems, the internal energy of the system is still directly proportional to its temperature. We can therefore use changes in the temperature of a system to monitor changes in its internal energy. The magnitude of the change in the internal energy of a system is defined as the difference between the initial and final values of this quantity. Esys = Efinal - Einitial Because the internal energy of a system is proportional to its temperature, when the temperature of the system increases. E is positive
The First Law of Thermodynamics: Interconversion of Heat and Work Energy can be transferred between a system and its surroundings as long as the energy gained by one of these components of the universe is equal to the energy lost by the other. Esys = Esurr
Energy can be transferred between a system and its surroundings in the form of either heat (q) or work (w). Esys = q + w When heat enters a system it can increase the temperature of the system or it can do work. q= Esys - w
The sign convention for the relationship between the internal energy of a system and the heat that crosses the boundary between the system and its surroundings is given in the figure below.
When the heat that enters a system increases the temperature of the system, the internal energy of the system increases, and E is positive. When the temperature of the system decreases because heat leaves the system, E is negative.
The sign convention for the relationship between work and the internal energy of a system is shown on the left side of the figure below.
When the system does work on its surroundings, energy is lost, and E is negative. When the surroundings do work on the system, the internal energy of the system becomes larger, so E is positive.
The relationship between the magnitude of the work done by a system when it expands and the change in the volume of the system was previously described by the following equation. |w | = P V
The figure above shows that the sign convention for work of expansion can be included by writing this equation as follows. w=-P V
State Functions When equations connect two or more properties that describe the state of the system, they are called equations of state. The ideal gas law, for example, is an equation of state.
PV = nRT State functions depend only on the state of the system, not on the path used to get to that state. Temperature is a state function. No matter how many times we heat, cool, expand, compress, or otherwise change the system, the net change in the temperature only depends on the initial and final states of the system. T = Tfinal - Tinitial The same can be said for the volume, pressure, and the number of moles of gas in the sample. These quantities are all state functions. Heat and work are not state functions. Work can't be a state function because it is proportional to the distance an object is moved, which depends on the path used to go from the initial to the final state. If work isn't a state function, then heat can't be a state function either. According to the first law of thermodynamics, the change in the internal energy of a system is equal to the sum of the heat and the work transferred between the system and its surroundings. Esys = q + w If E does not depend on the path used to go from the initial to the final state, but the
amount of work does depend on the path used, the amount of heat given off or absorbed must depend on the path. The thermodynamic properties of a system that are state functions are usually symbolized by capital letters (T, V, P, E, and so on). Thermodynamic properties that are not state functions are often described by lowercase letters (q and w).
Practice Problem 3:
Which of the following properties of a gas are state functions? (a) Temperature, T (b) Volume, V (c) Pressure, P (d) Number of moles of gas, n (e) Internal energy, E Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 3
Measuring Heat with a Calorimeter The amount of heat given off or absorbed in a chemical reaction can be measured with a calorimeter like the one shown in the figure below.
Because the reaction occurs in a sealed container at constant volume, no work of expansion is done during the reaction. The heat given off or absorbed by the reaction is therefore equal to the change in the internal energy of the system during the course of the reaction: Esys = qV. The amount of heat given off or absorbed by the water in a calorimeter can be calculated from the heat capacity of water.
Practice Problem 4:
The natural gas in methane reacts with oxygen to give carbon dioxide and water. CH4(g) + 2 O2(g) CO2(g) + 2 H2O(g)
Calculate the heat given off when 0.160 g of methane reacts with excess oxygen in a bomb calorimeter if the temperature of the 1.000 kg of water in the bath surrounding the bomb increases by 1.918 oC. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 4 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 4
Heat is an extensive quantity. The most common approach for converting a measurement of heat into an intensive quantity is to calculate the heat of reaction in units of kilojoules per mole. The result of this calculation is a quantity known as the molar heat of reaction. By definition, the molar heat of reaction is the heat given off or absorbed by the reaction expressed in units of kilojoules per mole of one of the reagents in the reaction. Enthalpy and Internal Energy By definition, the enthalpy of the system is the sum of the internal energy of the system plus the product of the pressure of the gas in the system times its volume. The change in the enthalpy of the system ( H ) that occurs during a reaction is the enthalpy
of the final state minus the initial state of the system.
H = Hfinal - Hinitial When this equation is applied to a chemical reaction, the final state corresponds to the products of the reaction and the initial state of the system is the reactants. The change in the enthalpy of the system as the reactants are converted into the products of the reaction is therefore known as theenthalpy of reaction. The relationships between heat, the internal energy of the system, and the enthalpy of the system during a chemical reaction can be summarized as follows.
The heat given off or absorbed when a reaction is run at constant volume is equal to the change in the internal energy of the system.
E = qV
The heat given off or absorbed when a reaction is run at constant pressureis equal to the change in the enthalpy of the system.
H = qp
The change in the enthalpy of the system during a chemical reaction is equal to the change in the internal energy plus the change in the product of the pressure of the gas in the system times its volume.
H= E+ (PV)
The difference between H and E for the system is relatively small for reactions that involve only liquids and solids because there is little if any change in the volume of the system during the reaction. This difference can be significant, however, for reactions that involve gases if there is a change in the number of moles of gas in the course of the reaction.
Practice Problem 5:
For which of the following reactions is (a) CaCO3(s) (b) 2 NH3(g) CaO(s) + CO2(g) N2(g) + 3 H2(g) Al2O3(s) + 2 Fe(l) CO2(g) + 2 H2O(g) H about the same as E?
(c) Fe2O3(s) + 2 Al(s) (d) CH4(g) + 2 O2(g)
Enthalpies of Reaction The enthalpy of reaction is the difference between the sum of the enthalpies of the products of the reaction and the sum of the enthalpies of the starting materials. H= Hproducts Hreactants
At constant pressure, when a reaction gives off heat to its surroundings, the enthalpy of the system decreases. Because the sum of the enthalpies of the products is smaller than the sum of the enthalpies of the reactants, exothermic reactions are characterized by negative values of H. H is negative ( H < 0)
Exothermic Reactions:
Endothermic reactions, on the other hand, take in heat from their surroundings. As a result, the enthalpy of the system increases. Endothermic reactions are therefore characterized by positive values of H.
Quicktime Movie Demonstration
Endothermic Reactions:
H is positive (
H > 0)
There are several ways the enthalpy of reaction information can be added to the balanced equation for the reaction.
Quicktime Movie Demonstration
One approach assumes that the balanced equation is written in terms of moles. For example, the reaction between sodium and chlorine to form sodium chloride gives off 411.15 kilojoules of energy per mole of NaCl formed. When two moles of sodium react with a mole of chlorine two moles of sodium chloride are formed. Thus, a total of 822.30 kilojoules of energy is released.
2 Na(s) + Cl2(g)
2 NaCl(s)
H = -822.30 kJ
Another approach reports values of the enthalpy of reaction per mole of one of the reactants or products. This approach is indicated as follows. 2 Na(s) + Cl2(g) 2 NaCl(s)
H = -411.15 kJ/mol NaCl Most endothermic reactions have to be driven by some external force, much as work has to be done to roll a boulder uphill. An example of this phenomenon is the electrolysis of molten sodium chloride.
electric current 2 NaCl(l) 2 Na(s) + Cl2(g)
A handful of endothermic reactions are spontaneous. One example of a spontaneous endothermic reaction is the basis of a commercial product, an ice pack that doesn't have to be
kept in the freezer. These ice packs contain a small quantity of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) or ammonium chloride (NH4Cl), which is separated from a sample of water by a thin membrane. When the pack is struck with the palm of the hand, the membrane is broken, and the salt dissolves in the water.
NH4NO3(s) + H2O
NH4+(aq) + NO3-(aq) Hrxn = 25.7 kJ/mol
Because the reaction is endothermic, it absorbs heat from its surroundings, and the ice pack can get cold enough to treat minor athletic injuries.
Practice Problem 6:
Use your experience with ice, water, and steam to predict which of the following reactions are exothermic and which are endothermic. (a) H2O(s) (b) H2O(l) (c) H2O(g) H2O(l) H2O(g) H2O(l)
Reversing the direction in which a reaction is written cannot change the magnitude of the enthalpy of reaction, only the sign of H. H2O(l) H2O(g)
H373 = 40.88 kJ/mol Reversing the direction in which the above reaction is written changes the sign of the initial and final states of the system have been reversed. H2O(g) H2O(l) H because
H373 = -40.88 kJ/mol
Standard-State Enthalpies Of Reaction The heat given off or absorbed by a chemical reaction depends on the conditions of the reaction. Three factors are particularly important: (1) the concentrations of the reactants and products involved in the reaction, (2) the temperature of the system, and (3) the partial pressure of any gases involved in the reaction. The combustion of methane can be used to illustrate the magnitude of the problem. Assume that we start with a mixture of CH4 and O2 in which the partial pressure of each gas is 1 atm and the temperature of the system is 25oC. Furthermore assume that we run the following reaction and then let the products cool to 25oC. CH4(g) + 2 O2(g) CO2(g) + 2 H2O(g)
Under these conditions, the reaction gives off a total of 802.4 kilojoules of energy per mole of CH4consumed. If we start with the reactants at 1000oC and 1 atm pressure, however, and return the products to the same conditions, the reaction gives off only 792.4 kJ/mol. The difference between these numbers is small (10.0 kJ/mol), but it is still 100 times larger than the experimental error (0.1 kJ/mol) with which the measurements were made. The effect of pressure and concentration on thermodynamic data is controlled by defining a set of standard conditions for thermodynamic experiments. By definition, the standard state for thermodynamic measurements fulfills the following requirements.
The partial pressures of any gas involved in the reaction is 0.1 MPa. The concentrations of all aqueous solutions are 1 M.
Measurements done under standard-state conditions are indicated by adding a superscript "o" to the symbol of the quantity being reported. The standard-state enthalpy of reaction for the combustion of natural gas at 25oC, for example, would be reported as follows: kJ/mol CH4. Measurements taken at other temperatures are identified by adding a subscript specifying the temperature in kelvin. The data collected for the combustion of methane at 1000 oC, for example, would be reported as follows: H1273 = 792.4 kJ/mol. Ho = -802.4
Hess's Law The enthalpy of a system can be defined in terms in terms of the internal energy, pressure, and volume of the gas in the system. H = E + PV Because the internal energy, pressure, and volume of a gas are all state functions, the enthalpy of a system is also a state function. As a result, the difference between the initial and final values of the enthalpy of a system does not depend on the path used to go from one of these states to the other. Hess's law states that the enthalpy of reaction ( H) is the same regardless of whether a
reaction occurs in one step or in several steps. We can therefore calculate the enthalpy of reaction by adding the enthalpies associated with a series of hypothetical steps into which the reaction can be broken.
Practice Problem 7:
The standard-state molar enthalpies of reaction for the formation of water as both a liquid and a gas have been measured.
H2(g) + 1/2 O2(g) H2(g) + 1/2 O2(g)
H2O(l) H2O(g)
Ho = -285.83 kJ/mol H2O Ho = -241.82 kJ/mol H2O
Use these data and Hess's law to calculate
Ho for the following reaction. H2O(l) H2O(g)
Practice Problem 8:
Before pipelines were built to deliver natural gas, individual towns and cities contained plants that produced a fuel known as town gas by passing steam over red-hot charcoal. C(s) + H2O(g) Calculate CO(g) + H2(g)
Ho for this reaction from the following information.
C(s) + 1/2 O2(g) CO(g) C(s) + O2(g) CO2(g) CO(g) + 1/2 O2(g) CO2(g) H2(g) + 1/2 O2(g) H2O(g)
Ho = -110.53 kJ/mol CO Ho = -393.51 kJ/mol CO2 Ho = -282.98 kJ/mol CO2 Ho = -241.82 kJ/mol H2O
Enthalpies of Formation By definition, Hof is the enthalpy associated with the reaction that forms a compound from
its elements in their most thermodynamically stable states.
Practice Problem 9:
Which of the following equations describes a reaction for which compound, Hof? (a) 2 Mg(s) 2 MgO(s) s) + O2(g) MgCO3(s) MgCO3(s) Ho is equal to the enthalpy of formation of a
(b) MgO(s) + CO2(g) (c) Mg(s) + C(s) + 3/2 O2(g)
Hess's law can be used to calculate the enthalpy of reaction for a chemical reaction from the enthalpies of formation of the reactants and products of the reaction.

Use Hess's law to calculate Ho for the reaction
MgO(s) + CO2(g) from the following enthalpy of formation data.
MgCO3(s)
Mg(s) + 1/2 O2(g) MgO(s) C(s) + O2(g) CO2(g) Mg(s) + C(s) + 3/2 O2(g) MgCO3(s)
Hof = -601.70 kJ/mol MgO Hof = -393.51 kJ/mol CO2 Hof = -1095.8 kJ/mol MgCO3
No matter how complex the reaction, the procedure used in the above example works. All we have to do as the reaction becomes more complex is add more intermediate steps. We obtained the answer to this exercise by adding the enthalpy of formation of each of the products and subtracting the enthalpy of formation of each of the reactants. In general, the enthalpy of reaction for any chemical reaction is equal to the difference between the sum of the enthalpies of formation of the products and the sum of the enthalpies of formation of the reactants. Ho = Hof Hof
products
reactants
This formula works because enthalpy is a state function. Thus,
Ho is the same regardless of
the path used to get from the starting materials to the products of the reaction.In the second step, these elements combine to form the products of the reaction.

Which of the following substances should have a standard-state enthalpy of formation equal to zero? (a) Hg(l) (b) Br2(g) (c) H(g) Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 11

Pentaborane(9), B5H9, was once studied as a potential rocket fuel. Calculate the heat given off when a mole of B5H9 reacts with excess oxygen according to the following equation. 2 B5H9(g) + 12 O2(g) Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 12 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 12 5 B2O3(s) + 9 H2O(g)
Bond-Dissociation Enthalpies
As we have seen,
Ho can be calculated with the following formula when the enthalpy of
formation is known for all of the reactants and products of a chemical reaction.
Ho =
Hof products -
Hof reactants
Only a limited number of enthalpies of formation have been measured, and there are many reactions for which Hof data is not available for one or more reagent. When this happens, Ho for the reaction can not be predicted. The enthalpy of reaction can be estimated using bond-dissociation enthalpies. By definition, the bond-dissociation enthalpy for an XY bond is the enthalpy of the gas-phase reaction in which this bond is broken to give isolated X and Y atoms. XY(g) X(g) + Y(g) Hof data to
The bond-dissociation enthalpy for a C-H bond can be calculated by combining gas phase.
give a net equation in which the only thing that happens is the breaking of C-H bonds in the
CH4(g) C(s) + 2 H2(g) C(s) C(g) 2 H 2( g ) 4 H(g) CH4(g) C(g) + 4 H(g)
Ho = 1 mol x 74.81 kJ/mol CH4 Ho = 1 mol x 716.68 kJ/mol C Ho = 4 mol x 217.65 kJ/mol H Ho = 1662.09 kJ
If it takes 1662 kJ/mol to break the four moles of C-H bonds in a mole of CH4, the average bond-dissociation enthalpy for a single C-H bond is about 415 kJ/mol. Bond-dissociation enthalpies are always positive numbers because it takes energy to break a bond. When a table of bond energies is used to estimate the enthalpy associated with the formation of a bond, the sign becomes negative because energy is released when bonds are formed.

Use bond-dissociation enthalpies to estimate ammonia. Ho for the gas-phase reaction between hydrogen and nitrogen to form
N2(g) + 3 H2(g) Assume that N2 molecules are held together by bonds.
2 NH3(g)
Bond-dissociation enthalpies can only provide an estimate of the value of are based on estimates of the strength of an average bond. Fundamental Subatomic Particles
Ho because they
Particle electron proton neutron
Symbol ep+ no
Charge -1 +1 0
Mass 0.0005486 amu 1.007276 amu 1.008665 amu
The number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in an atom can be determined from a set of simple rules.
The number of protons in the nucleus of the atom is equal to the atomic number (Z). The number of electrons in a neutral atom is equal to the number of protons. The mass number of the atom (M) is equal to the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. The number of neutrons is equal to the difference between the mass number of the atom (M) and the atomic number (Z).
Examples: Let's determine the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in the following isotopes.
12
13
14
14
The different isotopes of an element are identified by writing the mass number of the atom in the upper left corner of the symbol for the element.
12
C,
13
C, and
14
C are isotopes of carbon
(Z = 6) and therefore contain six protons. If the atoms are neutral, they also must contain six electrons. The only difference between these isotopes is the number of neutrons in the nucleus.
12
C: 6 electrons, 6 protons, and 6 neutrons C: 6 electrons, 6 protons, and 7 neutrons C: 6 electrons, 6 protons, and 8 neutrons
13
14
Practice Problem 1:
Calculate the number of electrons in the Cl- and Fe3+ ions. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 1
Electromagnetic Radiation Much of what is known about the structure of the electrons in an atom has been obtained by studying the interaction between matter and different forms of electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation has some of the properties of both a particle and a wave. Particles have a definite mass and they occupy space. Waves have no mass and yet they carry energy as they travel through space. In addition to their ability to carry energy, waves have four other characteristic properties: speed, frequency, wavelength, and amplitude. The frequency (v) is the number of waves (or cycles) per unit of time. The frequency of a wave is reported in units of cycles per second (s-1) or hertz (Hz). The idealized drawing of a wave in the figure below illustrates the definitions of amplitude and wavelength. The wavelength (l) is the smallest distance between repeating points on the
wave. The amplitude of the wave is the distance between the highest (or lowest) point on the wave and the center of gravity of the wave.
If we measure the frequency (v) of a wave in cycles per second and the wavelength (l) in meters, the product of these two numbers has the units of meters per second. The product of the frequency (v) times the wavelength (l) of a wave is therefore the speed (s) at which the wave travels through space. vl = s
Practice Problem 2:
What is the speed of a wave that has a wavelength of 1 meter and a frequency of 60 cycles per second? Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2
Practice Problem 3:
Orchestras in the United States tune their instruments to an "A" that has a frequency of 440 cycles per second, or 440 Hz. If the speed of sound is 1116 feet per second, what is the wavelength of this note? Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 3 Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 3
Light and Other Forms of Electromagnetic Radiation Light is a wave with both electric and magnetic components. It is therefore a form ofelectromagnetic radiation. Visible light contains the narrow band of frequencies and wavelengths in the portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum that our eyes can detect. It includes radiation with wavelengths between about 400 nm (violet) and 700 nm (red). Because it is a wave, light is bent when it enters a glass prism. When white light is focused on a prism, the light rays of different wavelengths are bent by differing amounts and the light is transformed into a spectrum of colors. Starting from the side of the spectrum where the light is bent by the smallest angle, the colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. As we can see from the following diagram, the energy carried by light increases as we go from red to blue across the visible spectrum.
Because the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation can be as long as 40 m or as short as 10-5nm, the visible spectrum is only a small portion of the total range of electromagnetic radiation.
The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio and TV waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, g-rays, and cosmic rays, as shown in the figure above. These different forms of radiation all travel at the speed of light (c). They differ, however, in their frequencies and wavelengths. The product of the frequency times the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is always equal to the speed of light. vl = c As a result, electromagnetic radiation that has a long wavelength has a low frequency, and radiation with a high frequency has a short wavelength.

The English System of Units

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The English System of Units

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The English System of Units There are several systems of units, each containing units for properties such

Length: meter (m) Volume:liter (L) Mass : gram (g)

Physical Quantity length mass time temperature

Name of Unit meter kilogram second kelvin

electric current amount of substance luminous intensity

ampere mole candela

Symbol kg/m3 C (A s) V (J/C) J (kg-m2/s2) N (kg-m/s2) Hz (s-1) Pa (N/m2) m/s m3

Physical Quantity volume length pressure energy temperature concentration

Length 1 m = 1.094 yd Volume

1 L = 1.057 qt Mass 1 g = 0.002205 lb

Determining the Number of Significant Figures

Postage Scale Two-pan balance Analytical balance

150.0 g H2O + 0.507 g salt 150.5 g solution

(using significant figures)

6,070,000 = 6.070 x 106

2.4 x 1022 9.80 x 10-4 1.055 x 10-22

2 significant figures 3 significant figures 4 significant figures

Go To Atoms Vs. Ions

Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2

Crispix has some of the characteristic properties of a compound.

Go To Atoms Vs. Ions

Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 2

Crispix has some of the characteristic properties of a compound.

NaCl sodium chloride (NH4)2SO4 ammonium sulfate NaHCO3 sodium bicarbonate

sodium calcium potassium

zinc hydrogen strontium

Fe2+ Sn2+ Cu+

ferrous stannous cuprous

Fe3+ Sn4+ Cu2+

ferric stannic cupric

Fe2+ Sn2+ Cu+

iron(II) tin(II) copper(I)

Fe3+ Sn4+ Cu2+

iron (III) tin(IV) copper(II)

fluoride chloride bromide iodide hydride

oxide sulfide nitride phosphide carbide

nitride. Click here to check your answer to Practice Problem 4

Common Polyatomic Negative Ions

hydrogen chloride nitrogen oxide bromine chloride

1 mono2 di3 tri4 tetra5 penta-

6 hexa7 hepta8 octa9 nona10 deca-

hydro -ic acid hydrochloric

NaHCO3 NaHSO3 KH2PO4

Ne and22Ne isotopes of neon or the

C (1.11 %). Individual carbon atoms therefore have a mass of

C atom is 12.000 amu, then one

H2O C12H22O11(s) C12H22O11(aq)

This equation can be read in either of the following ways.

2 H2O(g) 2 x 18 amu 36 amu

0.40 mol Mg x 1 mol O2 = 0.20 mol O2 2 mol Mg

The key to limiting reagent problems is the following sequence of steps.

Practice Problem 10:

Click here to see a solution to Practice Problem 10

Solute NaCl(s) H2(g) Hg(l) alcohol

Solvent H2O(l) Pt(s) Na(s) water

Solution NaClaq) H2/Pt(s) Na/Hg(s) wine

Practice Problem 11:

Practice Problem 12:

Practice Problem 13:

Practice Problem 14:

Practice Problem 15:

Acid/Base Titration (Titration of a base with an acid)

Empirical Formula: The simplest ratio of the atoms present in a molecule.

Empirical Formula: The simplest ratio of the atoms present in a molecule.